By Claude Flibotte, Québec, Canada
This is a tale of how the French translation of The Urantia Book, A Study of the Master Universe, and Appendices to A Study of the Master Universe came to be recorded in the French language.
The adventure of creating these audio recordings began, as I recall, in 2007. At that time, I was aware that a certain Mr. Richard Lachance of Québec City had hired a professional reader to record the fourth part of Le Livre d’Urantia, “The Life and Teachings of Jesus.” I thought it was a pity that not all of the book was thus available in audio format, and I set myself the goal of producing the other three parts.
I formed a team of volunteers. Marc Belleau, Roselyne de Baets, and Guy Vachon answered the call to join your humble servant in taking on this task. The role of the late Alcide Paradis was to listen to the documents and to point out to me any errors in pronunciation. My initial role was to coordinate everyone, check the recordings, make corrections, improve the sound, and produce a final document in mp3 format. The fourth part was not re-recorded, but I did rework the sound quality of the existing recording.
We were all volunteers on this project, and except for Roselyne, who was retired, we had day jobs. So the recordings were made in the evenings and on weekends.The complete production took three years of work. It was in 2009 that I submitted this audio version of Le Livre d’Urantia to Georges Micheson-Dupont at Urantia Foundation, and then it was published on the website.
After that, I discovered and read two books by William S. Sadler, Jr., A Study of the Master Universe and Appendices to A Study of the Master Universe. The author of these books, also known as Bill Sadler, was the son of Dr. William S. Sadler and was one of the six known members of the Contact Commission. He was an original member of the Forum and a great scholar and teacher of the Urantia Papers. He believed that the more complex and difficult material was meant to be studied deeply, so for the benefit of all, he wrote these two books.
A Study of the Master Universe, copyright 1968, was published by the Second Society Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, which also published Appendices to A Study of the Master Universe in 1975. The Association Francophone des Lecteurs du Livre d’Urantia (AFLLU)—meaning French-speaking Association of Readers of The Urantia Book— translated both volumes from the original English and published them via Urantia France S.A. The first edition of Une étude du maitre univers was published in 1997. The first edition of Appendices à une étude du maitre univers was published in 2001 and printed in two volumes—the first 150 pages and the second 372 pages.
I studied these books by Sadler over a period of ten years, from 2009 to 2019, during which I also attended a study group once a month. I came to the conclusion that these two works are of paramount importance to a better understanding of the complex concepts expounded by the revelators. In my opinion, to understand the revelations given to us in The Urantia Book, it is imperative to read the text of the book itself. But if the reading proves difficult, these books by William S. Sadler, Jr. may help explain the more challenging concepts in a more simple language.
I felt it was important to make them available in audio format as well. I requested permission from Georges Michelson-Dupont to proceed with another audio recording project. If memory serves me correctly, I started this work in 2010. My good friend Marc Belleau generously committed himself, with his beautiful voice and artistic talent, to produce the recordings of Une étude du maitre univers. It was published on the Foundation’s website in 2017. Please find it here: urantia.org/fr/une-etude-du-maitre-univers/une-etude-du-maitre-univers [2].
For my part, I started working on the recordings of Appendices à une étude du maitre univers. This adventure lasted several years and ended in December 2019. It has been available on the Foundation’s site since January 2020. Please find it here: urantia.org/fr/appendices-une-etude-du-maitre-univers/appendices-une-etude-du-maitre-univers [3].
It is my hope that these audio books constitute an additional medium for mastering the learning of these revelations in order to expand one's cosmic consciousness and enhance one's spiritual perception.
Happy listening!