Site Index


An Oldtimer from Forum Days responds to
Georges Michelson Dupont's Speech
Helsinki, Finland 7 August 1998

The author of this document was associated with the Forum during its later years and had a personal friendship with Bill Sadler, Jr. The document below contains paragraphs from Msr Dupont's speech followed by this Oldtimer's comments.


Note: This is not intended to criticize Msr Dupont, an individual whom I personally respect and admire, but merely to set the record straight on matters that took place in the early days. I knew Msr Dupont's parents in Paris in the late 1950's. I am convinced he is an honorable man, just mis-informed.

¶. 1.

First of all I would like, in the name of my fellows trustees, the Executive Director Tonia Baney, and all the staff of Urantia Foundation, to welcome you to the first international IUA conference ever held outside the US territory. It is not by chance that this thrilling event is taking place in Helsinki. The Finnish Urantia movement started in the early sixties as a result of a ready made group who were interested in UFO's, finding The Urantia Book.

Comment: Would it not be fair to say that the origin of the movement in Finland was due to the propitious discovery of the Urantia Book by a FINNAIR Air Hostess in a New York book shop. As a result the Book was carried back to Finland and caught the imagination of the "flying saucer" group. This single act proves the importance of the Urantia Book being prominently displayed by all book vendors, large, small and even new age.

¶ 14.

While the revelators were preparing to launch this revelation, it is my belief that they were also conscious of the possible dangers mentioned above. As part of their investigations for the place, the timing, and the people, they also looked very carefully at human laws and organizations.

Finally, they came up with a holistic plan that we may divide into three periods or steps, which could be compared to the important periods of the life of a human being:

Comment: While I will not attempt to dispute Msr Dupont's belief` there is no credible evidence of what the revelators plans were for the latest revelation to the mortals of this planet. The real danger lies in unfounded speculation about what the revelators plan was for the dissemination of the Urantia Papers.

Bill Sadler can be quoted as saying: "How does one launch a Revelation? It has never been done before. If this experiment (Foundation/Brotherhood) does not work, we may have to try something else."

And, as for the laws of the land, certainly the revelators knew that to obtain a copyright registration, a human author was necessary. The Urantia Papers could have been copyrighted in the United Kingdom where no such requirement existed. (1)

¶ 16.

Step two: Organization, planning, launching and early development- (1938-2030) (Birth and infancy of the revelation.) At that time, an organization would be created with the task of dissemination, producing translations, and protection. Also, some kind of social body of believers, as the natural off-spring to the Forum, would take place.

Comment: This is true, and the natural offspring was the Urantia Brotherhood. By adopting the Constitution thereof (created by Bill Sadler, a Trustee of the Urantia Foundation) a mechanism was enacted to disseminate the Urantia Papers to the peoples of the world, train teachers and leaders and form thousands of Brotherhood Societies and hundreds of thousands of study groups. Why then, I ask, did three mortals take it upon themselves to disenfranchise the Brotherhood, evict them from the house where they were formed and remove their name and sales organization for the very purpose Msr Dupont claims was necessary? They may have had the legal authority to do this, but was it morally a correct thing to do?

¶ 23.

And with the fifth, we do not know what research and techniques were used in selecting the timing, the site, and the human resources for the inauguration of The Urantia Book. No doubt celestial analysis and painstaking care and coordination went into the effort as was done in prior times. What we do know is that the language used was English, that Chicago was "the city of this visitation" and that the roots of the origin of The Urantia Book reach back to the early parts of the twentieth century. We were also told that the Midwayers started planning for this revelation in the 1400-1500's. "The Renaissance" period kept religion alive.

Comment: This story has been debated for years, I am credibly informed and believe that the Urantia Midwayers were experimenting with contacts for about 500 years prior to the Sadler group.(2) As to Chicago being the arena where this took place, it has no particular importance, in the early twentieth century, concomitant with the arrival of the first messages to the Contact group, Chicago was one of the most corrupt cities in the world. There were at least one thousand licensed brothels in the "loop" district alone, and probably three times that many unlicensed. It was the age of Al Capone and the crime gangs. The Contact group just happened to be in Chicago, it has no spiritual significance what so ever.

¶ 25.

The Contact Commission were the only humans privy to the methods used to produce the Papers in the English language. They were sworn not to disclose details about the transactions. The Urantia Book; because of its revelatory nature, was to stand on its own merit, nature and content.

Comment: Dr. Sadler was consistent in his statement to me (and others) that: "If I told you everything I know about how the Urantia Papers were transmitted into the English language ... you still would not know anything." And I believe that the good doctor never knew the means and methods in which the text was transmitted to the Contact group.

¶ 27. The doctor started sharing the material that was being received with this group of truth-seekers, which became known as the Forum. They posed many questions and the revelation started to take shape. It came to pass that the Forum participated in the development of the Urantia Papers and helped to foster these Urantia Teachings in their infancy.

Comment: But, be advised that there were the initial 57 Papers that were received prior to the establishment of the Forum group. Concerning questions that produced the text in cooperation with the revelators: consider you are a professor in a university and you give a lecture to your class and ask for written questions. After reviewing the questions you realize the comprehension level and so revise and improve your lecture. You then decide to incorporate these lectures into a book and seek copyright registration. Who is the author? The professor who created the material, or the students who asked questions?(3)

¶ 28.

The Unpublished William S. Sadler History An interesting unpublished document, written by Doctor William S. Sadler, which is now on public record, explains more about the appearance and the development of the Urantia Papers.

Comment: I challenge this "unpublished" history. This can be easily obtained by sending $3.95 to the Jesusonian Foundation (Good Cheer Catalog No. 123) for the "History of the Urantia Movement" (from the beginning until 1960) by Dr. William S. Sadler, MD. It would seem Msr Dupont has edited and changed the material somewhat.

¶ 36.-39.

"We told the Forum all about this and invited them to join us in the preparation of questions. We decided to start out with questions pertaining to the origin of the cosmos, Deity, creation, and such other subjects as were far beyond the present-day knowledge of all humankind."

"The following Sunday several hundred questions were brought in. We sorted out these questions, discarding duplicates, and in a general way, classifying them. Shortly thereafter, the first Urantia Papers appeared, the questions disappeared."

"This was the procedure followed throughout the many years of the reception of the Urantia Papers. No questions - no Papers."

Comment: It is indeed unfortunate that Msr Dupont did not know Dr. Sadler in his prime. He was a powerful and unique individual and a great orator. This "No questions - no Papers" quote could just have been easily interpreted to get the Forum group (who may have been reluctant to write questions, as they were) to participate with more enthusiasm. It does not mean the revelators would have ceased the transmission of additional Papers without their questions. Very few members of the Forum could have even crafted the questions that produced the Papers. They were not "rocket scientists", just your average upper middle class, WASPS (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants).

¶ 45-48:

They were also charged with the full responsibility for supervising all the details connected with the publication of the Book, securing the international copyrights, etc."

These statements make it very clear that the Revelators had concerns for the protection of the Papers under copyright laws. Seeking for a copyright could not have been initiated by the revelators' human counter-part, the Contact Commission since, according to Sadler "They were charged with the full responsibility for supervising all the details connected with the publication of the Book, securing the international copyrights, etc." The question is "who charged them" with those responsibilities? And the only rational answer is: the Revelators did. As a matter of fact, Urantia Foundation has written documents showing that as early as October 1932, Mr. Wilfred Kellogg, one of the contact commissioners, was charged with the responsibly of looking into international copyright for The Urantia Book. It is my understanding that the authors were already seeking for the protection of the Book long before it was even finished.

Dr. Sadler also said: "We were enjoined to refrain from discussing the identity of the Contact Personality and, after the publication of the Book, to make any statement at any time as to whether the "subject" was still living or was deceased."

Comment: If Msr Dupont wishes to believe that the seeking of International copyrights

were a wish of the revelators, that is his choice. But, I repeat, the Seraphim of the nation life knew very well that such registration was not possible under United States rules re: Copyright. There is no hard evidence that the protection of the Papers was a vital concern, otherwise an instruction to print millions of so called "inviolate" copies would have been made. Even with the mechanical defects of the first printing, no one would dare compete with a plethora of available books.(4) Mr. Wilfred Kellogg was Dr. Sadler's business manager, any correspondence between him and the Library of Congress, copyright office could have been for a number of reasons, after all Dr. and Lena Sadler were prolific authors of many published books.

As to whether or not the contact person (sleeping subject) was living or dead, Bill Sadler did mention that one of the conditions of publication was that this individual should be no longer living at the time of printing the Urantia Papers.

¶ 51.

Therefore, with the inspiration of the Midwayers, Urantia Foundation was created by a Declaration of Trust under the laws of the State of Illinois on January 11, 1950 which states its goals, objectives, and functions. Urantia Foundation received the plates of the text from the Contact Commissioners as the "Trust Estate." A copyright on The Urantia Book was obtained and the three Concentric Circles Symbol, and the names "Urantia" and "Urantian" were registered as trademarks to identify the future Urantia Book with Urantia Foundation, who was the custodian of the book and legal owner of the copyright. In addition, the social body was in its stage of preparation and was formed in 1955 as the Urantia Brotherhood.

Comment: There is no credible evidence that the Midwayers inspired the Declaration of Trust. It was prepared, I was informed, by the attorneys at the Northern Trust Company of Chicago.(5) The Foundation did receive the plates that were in the custody of Wilfred Kellogg who signed the contract with the Lakeside Press for their manufacture. As to chain of custody, there may be gaps in the handwritten/typewritten original manuscript (that was destroyed intentionally by fire) and Emma Christensen's typewritten copies and the proof readers copy. This will be debated for eons to come. But this is for certain. There was no registered trade marks in 1955, the word "Urantia" and "Urantian" were up for grabs, as evidenced by my military identity tags and records circa 1950.

¶ 52.

The Publication Mandate

Dr. Sadler said: "At long last, permission to publish the Urantia Papers was granted. The Introduction to this mandate reads (and we accept the following to be direct words from the revelators): "We regard The Urantia Book as a feature of the progressive evolution of human society. It is not germane to the spectacular episode of epochal revelation, even though it may apparently be timed to appear in the wake of one such revolution in human society. The book belongs to the era immediately to follow the conclusion of the present ideological struggle. That will be the day when men will be willing to seek truth and righteousness. When the chaos of the present confusion has passed, it will be more readily possible to formulate the cosmos of a new and improved era of human relationships. And it is for this better orders of affairs on earth that the book has been made ready." "'But the publication of the book has not been postponed to that (possibly) somewhat remote date. An early publication of the book has been provided so that it may be in hand for the training of leaders and teachers. Its presence is also required to engage the attention of persons of means who may be thus to provide funds for translation into other languages." "Upon receipt of these instructions, the Contact Commissioners entered upon the task of publishing The Urantia Book and preparation of plans for its distribution."

Comment: The publication mandate as Geroges Dupont recites it has always been a topic of after dinner conversation. Many versions of this mandate (and there are many versions) are suspect. For one thing, the revelators never used the term "Book" but rather papers. One can search all of the words of the printed text and not find the term "Urantia Book" once. Secondly, as I heard the story from both Doctor and Bill, this last instruction was quite lengthy, and snippets of it are taken out of context to distort the real meaning of it. I under-stand the publication mandate, (really called "final instructions and admonitions") was seven pages in length, not a mere paragraph as recited by Msr Dupont. For example: Among other things they said:

"You are called to a great work and yours is to be a transcendent privilege to present this

revelation to the peoples of this strife-torn world.

"Supercilious scientists will ridicule you and some may even charge you with collusion and fraud. Well-meaning religionists will condemn you as enemies of the Christian religion and accuse you of defaming Christ himself. Thousands of spiritually hungry souls will bless you for the message you bring, and thousands of others will condemn you for disturbing their theologic complacence.

Are you ready for your baptism of joys and sorrow which will certainly attend upon the early distribution of the Urantia Revelation?"

These are just a very small portion of what was in those seven pages.

¶ 57.

Concerning the present revelation, the Urantia Papers project, the Midwayers placed in the hands of the Trustees of Urantia Foundation the complete responsibility for the dissemination of the teachings and the full authority for the protection of The Urantia Book as it is stated in its Declaration of Trust. It is a cosmic mechanism placed by the spiritual brotherhood to carry Epochal revelations to the human realms.

Comment: I think this statement is stretching things a bit. The revelators put the Urantia Papers project into the hands of the Contact Commissioners, not the Trustees of the Foundation, two founding members of which were never Contact Commissioners. And here we go again with the so called "divinity" of the declaration of trust. A document that never once mentions copyright, trade marks or even mandates the keeping of the Papers in print in perpetuity. Although I respect and am in awe of the Urantia Midwayers, consider there are only around 10,000 of these wonderful beings on our planet, whereas, a multitude of other personalities resident on Urantia contributed to the many tasks in bringing forth the Urantia Revelation in written form. We all give the Midwayers so much credit as they are just a bit further up the personality scale from human beings. But this I know, there were great and even divine personalities engaged in this project, some with authority to make unprecedented decisions, which of course the Midwayers could not.

¶ 58.

Some individuals deny this human authority over the dissemination and protection of the revelation, invoking their "spiritual liberty," or their direct relationship with God. They claim that they are free to do whatever they want with the revelation because it is a gift from our unseen friends to humankind. Their so called "liberty" is more important to them that their obligations toward the group or their duties as cosmic citizens. They should meditate on the following statement of Jesus:

Comment: Yes, there will always be zealots in every religious movement. But Msr Dupont must recognize not too long ago the Foundation denied that this was a religious movement, but rather a Book about Archeology, Paleontology, Cosmology and a few other ologies. The Urantia Papers do profess a personal relationship between mortals and the Universal Father, and not with intermediaries such as a Trustee or staff member of the Foundation. Our first devotions should be to God the Father, and our loyalty to his Creator Son Michael of Nebadon. If one has any time left, they can recognize the Urantia Foundation as a publisher, no more or less. And please, Georges, let us leave Jesus out of this, he (Michael) was aloof to the Fifth Epochal Revelation and let his Chief Executive Gabriel to that task.

¶ 63.

As with previous revelations, the early stages need to be nurtured and protected. The early days of the revelation are like a new born baby that needs wise and loving protection in the early stages of its life by a caring, devoted father and mother. I like to use the analogy between the early days of this revelation and a river at its source. The course of the river can be deviated with the point of only a finger, however once it is large enough, deviation becomes more difficult.

Comment: I disagree with this statement. Did not Simon Peter baptize 2000 on the day of Pentecost? Did not Paul turn the Greco-Roman world upside down with his evangelistic fervor. We have been pounded incessantly by the term "slow growth" but reverse growth is intolerable. Dr. Sadler or his son Bill never used the term "slow growth". Is this not just a "cop out" or an excuse for the failure of the movement to ever take off?

Doc said to me once in his third floor apartment when I questioned the possibility of the Holy Roman Church placing the book on their index (prohibited material). To quote Doc Sadler: "That would be wonderful! Call the printers, get the presses rolling! We'll print a million copies!"(6)

¶ 64, 65, 66, 67.

The Declaration of Trust as the plan for the spreading of the revelation.

What to do with those plates, and were precise instructions given on how to proceed with the spreading of the revelation?

Since all written instructions were burned, we only have hearsay and oral testimony to rely upon -none of which can be scientifically proven (even if the instructions are consistent with our understanding and appear to be rational.)

The only document upon which we can surely rely upon is the Declaration of Trust creating Urantia Foundation. In fact this document institutes Urantia Foundation as the owner of The Urantia Book, assigns the goals of Urantia Foundation, builds the plan for the dis-semination of the teachings of The Urantia Book, and gives instructions for the protection of the text. It indicates how Urantia Foundation and the Trustees should operate to launch and construct the foundation for the worldwide spreading of the revelation.

While this Declaration of Trust is a typical, usual, and classic 1950's Foundation document, articles No. 1, 2, and 3 are inspired if not authored by the revelators themselves. Those articles are very specific and precise: they describe what Urantia Foundation is set up for and what the duties of the Trustees are. (snip)

Comment: Yes, all written instructions and other apocryphal material were burned, as well as the original handwritten/typewritten manuscript. As to the printing plates which became worn out and obsolete, I was told by credible sources they were melted down for sale as scrap, others think they were sold for scrap, in either case they no longer exist, to the dis-appointment of some fundamentalist friends who insist on examining them for reasons only known to them. As to the DOT, my copy which I am sure is much older than yours (but unchanged) does not give instructions for protection of the text. It only states that the text remain "inviolate" but does not give details on how to do this.

You may believe, and I respect anyone's belief, that Articles 1,2, and 3 are inspired, but I do not, and will not, as my source of information is not hearsay and speculation, but from those who engaged in the drafting and implementation of this purely legal document. We must not get carried away to the ways of "Brave New World" where we start believing in a Model "T" and produce a calendar "after Ford".(7)

¶ 78.

It is my understanding, my belief, and my conviction that as long as we follow the instructions of the Declaration of Trust creating Urantia Foundation, we arc respectful of the Revelator's plan and therefore we are in partnership with the Revelators. We co-operate with them and our way is safe and right. We are faithful servants.

Comment. The above paragraph is italicized by Msr Dupont. He again states his personal belief, which I respect, but again this belief is predicated on the DOT as some sacred document from on high. I do not and will not accept this as I know it is not true!

¶ 81.The reasons for a copyright. (snip)Comment: The only reason for copyright is to protect the authors (or his assigns) royalties. It is purely a commercial transaction. The copyright office does not police registered materials, it is up to the copyright holder to collect their due royalties.

¶ 83.

A copyright to protect the integrity of the text

Comment: See comment for ¶81 ibid.

furthermore, anyone who distorts, re-writes or fictionalizes the text may not be an infringer at all. Mr. J.J. Benitez did this in Spain, and he is an untouchable as far as the Foundation is concerned. In regard to Sr. Benitez, would it not be correct to think of him as some "John the Baptist" type for the coming of the Urantia Papers in his native language?(8)

¶ 94.

A copyright for the control of the quality of translations.

Comment: See comment for ¶ 81. ibid

¶ 98.

A copyright as a barrier against impatience and immaturity.

Comment: ibid

¶ 103.

The Trademarks: The Three Concentric-circles Symbol and the word "Urantia"

Another issue I would like to address today is the one on the trademarks -- the three concentric-circles symbol and the names "Urantia" and "Urantian" -- especially the three concentric-circle symbol. First of all, we are told that the symbol is the material emblem of the Trinity government [606:0]. They were displayed as "the banner of Michael" under which the loyal beings rallied when "there was war in heaven" during the episode of the Lucifer rebellion. Then, they were used by Machiventa during his emergency revelation on earth and, as such, they became associated with the third revelation.

Therefore, it is natural that, as an identification mark of its origin, The Urantia Book, being the material form of the Fifth Epochal Revelation, carries the three Concentric Circles Symbol. It is only natural that Urantia Foundation, being its publisher, (owner of The Urantia Book and not of the Fifth Epochal Revelation) register them as service marks, trademarks, and membership marks (this was done in 1952, 1971, and 1978). This trademark identifies the organization in charge of the Urantia project, as well as identifying its affiliated associations who support Urantia Foundation- in its task for the dissemination and protection; those groups who are desirous of cooperating with the plan of the revelators.

But, let's suppose for a minute that the copyright was in the public domain and Urantia Foundation had lost its trademarks. What would be the foreseeable consequences? Immediately a number of publishers would break the book into separate parts and publish them. Simplified versions of the text would flourish on the market, digests would be published, and great confusion would ensue because people would not know which book carried the entire and authentic revelation.

Immediately publishers would start dozens of translations of parts of the book, using professionals with no mechanisms in place to insure quality and accuracy, resulting in pandemonium. and leading to confusion in all countries and among the potential readership. Social groups of believers would also become publishers and enter into a wild business of competition for the control of both the market and the readership instead of being busy with social activities such as education, dissemination, and brotherhood.

Is this what we want for the unfolding of the Fifth Epochal Revelation? Is this the desire of the Revelators? Will this help the development of a worldwide brotherhood of believers?

What is Urantia Foundation going to do? Urantia Foundation will continue the programs that have been implemented to fulfill its trust and duties.

Comment: I must agree that the three concentric circles symbol was service marked in 1952. And that clearly gives the Foundation ownership of that mark. As to the words "Urantia" and "Urantian" these were clearly not protected until many years later. One cannot register a trade mark retroactively, so by asserting to the US. Patent and Trade Mark Office that they (Foundation) coined the word(s) they were able, by deception, to secure the trade marks. But any one who has read the Urantia Book knows that the name Urantia is one billion years old, and this is the name of planet 606 of our system.

The word "Urantian" is a term that identifies any person who lives on the planet 606 of Satania. These are the marks that will not stand under intense scrutiny. They were fraudulently acquired by stating that the words never were used before furthermore, they are generic words, not subject to registration.(9)

¶ 105.-106.

But, let's suppose for a minute that the copyright was in the public domain and Urantia Foundation had lost its trademarks. What would be the foreseeable consequences? Immediately a number of publishers would break the book into separate parts and publish them. Simplified versions of the text would flourish on the market, digests would be published, and great confusion would ensue because people would not know which book carried the entire and authentic revelation.

Immediately publishers would start dozens of translations of parts of the book, using professionals with no mechanisms in place to insure quality and accuracy, resulting in pandemonium. and leading to confusion in all countries and among the potential readership. Social groups of believers would also become publishers and enter into a wild business of competition for the control of both the market and the readership instead of being busy with social activities such as education, dissemination, and brotherhood.

Comment: The Urantia Papers were in public domain for a time, when the Senior District Judge in Arizona ruled that they were. What happened? Well, another organization published the Papers, it was a true and exact copy. Another individual split up the book while the copyright was still in force. This same person then published a "door stopper" entitled God's Bible, a book he claimed was a "certified true copy" of the first printing. Although I personally did not like the Part IV infringement,(10) (poor quality and a lot of pictures of some one's idea of how Jesus appeared 2000 years ago) the large re-production of the so called "certified copy" was so full of other individuals notions of theorigin (on the most part inaccurate) and more pictures, it was a disgrace to the Urantia Papers. Did the world fall apart as a result of these attempts? No it did not indeed. Were many bogus translations produced? Not a one. And then there is Mr. Gardner.

¶ 107.

(snip)

Our plan is to translate The Urantia Book into 60 languages by the year 2030. We will concentrate on the most important languages so that more than 80% of the world population will have access to the Revelation in their own tongue by that time. We will ensure that the translation to be provided will be the best which can be achieved through purely human efforts. Urantia Foundation, with its past and ongoing experience, has set up guidelines, principles and criteria concerning the choice of the translators as well as the translating technique.

Comment: Congratulations: It is about time the Urantia Foundation is getting serious about translations, abut 40 years too late! The publication mandate included instructions about foreign language translations. Prior to the era of the internet, world wide air transportation by high speed jet propelled aircraft and the standard language for commerce, business, and science evolved into the English language. The real reason for the plan for 60 translations before the copyright expires, in my opinion (if it is not successfully challenged before that time) is to perpetuate the copyright in the names of the translators, for their lifetime plus fifty years. May I suggest you find very young translators.

¶ 108.

Because it is impossible to translate this 2,097 page book without mistakes,

Comment: I am pleased this statement was made. It is very true. The Urantia Papers in English was after all a translation from the language of the Super and Local Universes and other languages, (Life and Teachings could well have been in Aramaic or Greek) and as a result mistakes will always be a problem. For this reason may I remind my fundamentalist friends that there were mistakes in the first printing, (Bill Sadler pointed them out to me) and the Urantia Foundation is not guilty of changing the text to any substantive degree.

¶ 109.

Continuation of the efforts of publishing and distributing The Urantia Book worldwide.

Urantia Foundation believes that business and social activities should be clearly separated. It is not wise or safe for individuals or social groups of believers to concern themselves with publishing. Social groups of readers must focus their efforts on social activities and outreach -- dissemination of the teachings.

Comment: I share this belief. Then why did the Urantia Foundation form the IUA? A membership group that has absolutely no individual representation and is at the beck and call of the publisher, Foundation.

¶ 110.

Teamwork is based on trust and respect for one other. We are all dedicated readers and believers. The Trustees of Urantia Foundation are willing to cooperate and work in harmony with individuals or groups who believe in the importance of the revelation for our planet, and who are willing to work in partnership with the revelators and in support of the Declaration of Trust.

We are dealing with a superhuman phenomenon. The revelation is not the work of humans, (snip) Urantia Foundation is willing to exercise its leadership role by creating, encouraging, and fostering an environment in which an individual, as well as a group, can function and cooperate harmoniously.

Very soon, new policies for secondary works and permission to quote will be implemented which will meet the need of 98% of the readership,

Comment: Again Msr Dupont makes an assumption that the DOT is a divine (or otherwise inspired document) so any individual or group who does not accept the divinity of the DOT will not be included in this environmental cooperation. And what if such individuals have a profound belief that they are working with the revelators but not in accordance with this legal document, the DOT, are they to be put on the "enemies list" ? A list that at least two Trustees readily admitted that existed at one time, or still does.(11)

¶ 114.

Secondary works

We all agree that secondary works are, some times, necessary and desirable. They express the understanding, interpretation, and experience of their authors with The Urantia Book. Some-times, when they are good, they can be of some help to others in the discovery of new meanings.

Nevertheless, it should be reminded that The Urantia Book is the revelation and should not be supplanted or replaced in the mind of the potential reader by any human interpretation.

Comment: But there is an instruction in the publication mandate to train teachers (and leaders). Such a task would require teaching aids, if these be classified as secondary works then they may be necessary. Then again when the message of the Urantia Papers once burns in one's heart and stimulates one's soul the result is always to talk about it, write about it and even preach it. It is indeed a shame that in the short time the world has had this teaching there are more preachers than teachers. But the requirements for real teachers remains, and secondary works will follow.

¶ 117.

Promotion of unity and peace among the readership

Genuine, justifiable and durable unity can be built only on the acceptance of wise cooperation and recognition of the revelators' plan for the revelation. Unity must be principled. It would be very easy to achieve unity within the readership for the sake of public relations if the Foundation gave into certain demands and gave public licenses for the use of the text and trade-marks, or better still, simply to drop the text into the public domain. These demands to allow blanket, public licenses would virtually allow anyone to do as they pleased with the text as it would become impossible to monitor adherence to the conditions of license. It would be extremely unwise for the Foundation to compromise the Plan to this degree for the sake of unity.

Unity, if achievable at all, must be principled. The basic principles and fundamentals need to be accepted. Unity must not be bought by sacrificing the will of the revelators: the uncompromissable responsibility of the Foundation to fulfill its trust. Unity for the sake of unity is dangerous. The idea of a (re)established unity of the movement is desirable and hopefully will prevail. But unity cannot be achieved through concessions such as giving up the copyright and/or trademarks.

Arguments, sometimes angry, occasionally friendly, whose objective is to extract concessions from the Foundation and to lure it to deviations from its principles, for the sake of unity, are presented every day. Trustee, Gard Jameson, in answer to statements made at a recent USUA conference made it very clear that the Foundation was not like the straw house in the children's story of the "three little pigs." He used this metaphor to indicate that the Foundation's house is built out of bricks and will stand strong and true to its trust to protect the inviolate text of The Urantia Book, and in order to do this it must maintain the copyright and marks.

We understand that there will be those who don't want to join with us in this task and we respect their decision in a spirit of brotherhood and unity. All the Foundation is asking of readers is to recognize the law and conduct their dissemination activities within that law.

Comment: What Georges Dupont is saying here is that this new "vision of unity" is based on the Foundation's conditions. That they will remain steadfast and uncompromising and any unity must come with the price of surrender or complete capitulation to the Foundation’s policies.

Conclusion

This is my conclusion, not Georges Dupont’s. I should mention on the subject of splitting up the Book, I am in agreement with him,(12) however, this was done in 1961 with the blessing of the (then) Trustees of the Foundation when Msr Jacques Weiss published his three volume La Cosmogonie d'Urantia. As best as I remember these were printed in France, and the Urantia Foundation violated their own (inspired?) DOT by giving up "absolute control" of the plates and other media.

I further resent the Foundation's reprehensible act of attempting to abolish the Urantia Brotherhood, an organization that was developed by a founding Trustee and was nurtured by this very brilliant gentleman until his untimely passing. And since we are all quoting history, take note of Bill Sadler's comments that he spoke on a tape recorded talk:

"This trust agreement (DOT) is all full of standard legal garbage. You know, the sort of things that attorneys feel are necessary to put in. Attorneys are like physicians, they mystify things. Accountants tend to make their reports very mystical. They don’t have to be mystical but they are and undoubtedly this is very good and proper because the courts know what this, you don’t have to give anything to anyone, you give, devise and bequeath unto this person, their heirs and so on. There’s plenty of that language in the trust document."

Msr Dupont in his history of the Urantia movement does not once mention Dr. Lena K. Sadler, MD. Had it not been for this wonderful person, there might not be any history at all to report on, at least one that took place in the Lincoln Park distinct of Chicago.

An old timer

Footnotes:

  1. 1. The Book of Mormon, copyrighted since 1830, is also one of contentious origin. But in this case anyone desiring such a copy of this book may receive it FREE using a toll free telephone number. Who would attempt to compete with such an arrangement?
  2. 2. Dr. Sadler related to me that his experience was third choice; that attempts to make contacts previously were aborted for various reasons.
  3. 3. This is not a hypothetical statement. There is a Math professor at an Ivy League College who has been a Urantia Book reader for over 25 years who, infact has published dozens of textbooks with problems worked out by his students. He holds the copyrights and receives royalties therefrom.
  4. 4. See note 1 above. Would anyone compete with a text that is so readily available for no cost? Of course not!
  5. 5. See Bill Sadler's comments on the origin of the DOT
  6. 6. See note 5 above regarding the hundreds of millions of "Book of Mormon" out there.
  7. 7. Aldous Huxley, the author of "Brave New World" died on the same day as Bill Sadler, John F. Kennedy and C. S. Lewis -- November 22, 1963; Some coincidence!
  8. 8. Mr. J. J. Benitiz has published over one million books in Spanish, Portuguese and possibly other languages. He too, uses massive amounts of material from The Urantia Book in this multi-volume set entitled "The Trojan Horse".
  9. 9. Many trademarks fall into public domain once they become generic. For example, "elevator" and "zipper" were once trademarked but these registrations were lost because they became common English words.
  10. 10. I have my own reasons for not producing Part IV as a stand alone volume, but I am not at liberty to elaborate on that here. But there is the matter of Martin Gardner's "Urantia -- The Great Cult Mystery". I informed the President of the Foundation of this son to be published hatchet job after receiving the manuscript from the author. What did they do? Nothing! I was told they were too busy with the Maaherra episode to give Gardner any attention. And look at the damage that did.
  11. 11. See Bill Sadler's comments on the origin of the DOT.
  12. 12. See note 10 above.

 


A Service of
The Urantia Book Fellowship