The “Accidental” Disseminator

By Saskia Praamsa Raevouri

The dilemma we all face, when trying to share what the Urantia revelation is all about, is that one size does not fit all. It is crucial to listen carefully to what the person you are talking to is asking—if anything. If I were faced with a large group of people I didn't know and had to describe the Urantia Book "story," I would not know where to begin in coming up with something that would appeal to the mass mind.

This is from my own experience. My brother found the book in 1975 and kept telling me I would love it, that it gives so many details about God and Jesus. Well, I considered myself an atheist at the time, so the last thing I was looking for was a massive book about religion! 

It wasn't until two years later, when I temporarily moved in with my brother, that I chanced to look at the page he had the book open at on his dining room table, "The First Human Family." I began reading and couldn't stop, all the way through Adam and Eve and the migrations, and found many of my questions being answered about who we were, why people all over the world were different, and how we got here. 

I discovered that there were beings in the universe who knew more than we did and who were REVEALING this information in this book, which I now had to read from cover to cover. This led me to a belief in God and the whole amazing cosmos with all of its personalities, and my place and destiny in the big picture. 

My other big question was what happens when we die, which the book answered to my great relief. Later I read the Jesus part and discovered this magnificent God was someone I could be friends with. If my brother had just given me a book without telling me what was in it, I'm sure I would have gotten into it much sooner on my own!

An Angel from Corinth

Then I went ahead and made the same mistake my brother made! In trying to get my friends to read the book, I would focus on the Urantia evolution and history papers, believing that if this could get me "hooked" it would work for others. It turned out that none of my friends were asking these questions and they found my enthusiastic ramblings about evolution downright annoying! 

I also tried feeding them the mansion world papers, assuming everyone lay awake all night wondering what happens when we die. I was careful not to mention God and Jesus, knowing how that had turned me off, without considering that these were the very things they may have wanted to know. 

I don't think I led anyone to the book with my early tactics because I wasn't listening to what the other person was asking and was simply foisting my own personal experience on them.

My "successes" have been mostly accidental, when I wasn't trying. For instance, in 1980 I was living in Corinth in Greece and talking with my English friend Helen's Greek husband George about the Greeks as described in the UB. I was careful not to mention the name of the book until he asked, "Where did you get that information?" I told him I had a book and could lend it to him for a couple of days, marking the pages with Greek history for him. 

The next afternoon Helen came to visit me carrying the big blue book, gasping, "I was up all night reading about Jesus!" She became a devoted reader, even sending her four kids to special English-language schools so they would be able to read it. (None of them, alas, became UB readers though they grew up with an awareness of it and its teachings.) 

When I visited them years later both Helen and George were still readers, their books (which I had sent them) pretty much worn out. Helen said I was an angel who came all the way to Corinth just to deliver the revelation right into her hands! Here is another case of someone discovering the book for themselves. If I had tried to drum the evolution and history stuff into Helen she may never have given it a second glance.

The Urantia “Book Club”

Another "accidental" success was when my husband Matthew Block and I were spending our summers in a little vacation park in Holland. A neighbor visiting us asked, "How did you and Matthew meet?" I told him we were both reading a book that described the cosmos and the meaning of life, and that we met as members of a "book club" that was built around studying this book. (I did not want to sound like we were members of an obscure religious cult!) 

The neighbor asked if he could see the book, and we just happened to have the Dutch translation sitting on the shelf. Based on hints he gave, I also showed him some of the diagrams readers had made of the grand universe, and he was interested enough to ask to borrow the book. Since we were about to return to the States for the winter, I said he could keep it until we returned. 

About six months later, when we arrived back in Holland, a completely different neighbor texted me and said, "I'm so glad you are back! I have almost finished reading the book and have so many questions!" The amazing thing is that she then introduced the book to her yoga teacher, and within no time the whole class was reading and sharing Het Urantia Boek. 

Who knows how many others were or will be led to the revelation through these people! (I consider the first neighbor a "transition” ancestor!) Another case of letting someone discover the parts that answer their particular questions for themselves and not telling them too much.

The Big Questions About Life

One more story: I was living in Glendale, California, in 1997 and had a study group for new readers who were referred to me. One of them was Faye Loskamp, who had found the book through watching a show called "Strange Universe" that talked about an "alien bible," which was the Urantia revelation. This was exactly what she was looking for, and after getting her copy she began attending my group which had about five or six people. 

My tactic was to ask the newest person, "What is your biggest question about life?" and then we would read the paper that answered that, instead of reading from start to finish and risk alienating them. 

One evening Faye asked if she could bring her husband, Al, who was curious about where she was going every week. I said of course, though it was tricky because he, unlike the others in the group, was unfamiliar with the book. So when we were all gathered, I asked Al, "What is your biggest question?" and he replied, "I've always wanted to know more about Adam and Eve." So we read that paper and discussed it. 

The next week, Al was back! I asked, "What else do you want to know?" and he replied, "I've always wanted to know if there is life on other planets." So we read "The Inhabited Worlds." I noticed that as we stopped to discuss certain passages, Al kept reading ahead with his nose deep in the book. By the end of this evening, he declared, "I'm hooked!" From then on Al and Faye attended my group until it disbanded and they remained devoted readers for the rest of their lives.

Getting out of the Way

If someone were to do a study of the 367 stories in the latest version of my book How I Found the Urantia Book, in most cases people were led to the book through an individual who didn't tell them too much, or by finding it lying around in someone's house and opening it out of curiosity. Yes, there are instances of a speaker addressing a group of non-readers and making a UB convert, but even those cases depend on what aspect of the book the speaker is focused on.

My point is that we have to get ourselves out of the way when introducing the book and forget about reaching a large group with our message, á la Billy Graham. There is a passage in the revelation from the time when Jesus was in Damascus: "In his labors for these individuals the scribe of Damascus never met more than three of them at one time, seldom more than two, while most often he taught them singly." (132:0.9)

The way one introduces the revelation needs to be tailored to the individual, just as Jesus practiced. As I said at the start, it is a dilemma and we are all struggling with it. I certainly don't have all the answers and wish everyone the best in their efforts to get the revelation out there. 

There is one thing of which I am certain: Our main task is to make the book available all around the world in as many translations as possible, so that those who are ready can be led to it by their angels. After that, they will be guided by their Thought Adjusters to the section of the book that will open the door to its many wonders for them.

Saskia Praamsma Raevouri has been reading the Urantia Book since 1977. Retired from a career in the animated cartoon industry, she and her partner, Matthew Block, currently operate SquareCircles.com and Square Circles Publishing. They live in Nevada.