HOW THE URANTIA BOOK FELL INTO MY HANDS
By Maramis Choufani
Little did I know when several of us Urantia Book readers were planning our trip to Israel with Diane Labrecque back in 2014 that I would “fall into” meeting two very important people. One was Rick Lyon, now The Center for Unity person-in-charge of fund-raising for the Jesus Metaverse project, which was born in Israel, and the other one was Gabriel Rymberg, the person who actually gave birth to the dream.
When I met Gabriel, I felt I was there at the beginning of his dream for everything now taking place. We (all of us Urantia Book readers) cannot help loving Gabriel’s wonderful dream! Many of us are doing what we can to contribute to getting Jesus more well-known and loved all over the world, especially by the youth who may not know him nearly well enough. I’m doing my tiny part by proofreading the monthly newsletter that brings everyone up to date on The Center For Unity. Little as that may be, if it helps the project at all, it makes me happy to be part of it.
And on top of that, I got to see Jerusalem and travel the same streets and byways that Jesus traveled on, even visiting the home of John Mark’s father, the place where Jesus held his last supper with the apostles. But who knew I’d also end up meeting my new friend Rick, who turned out to be the husband of my friend Susan, who I was yet to meet several years down the road; and it was she who asked me to write how I came upon The Urantia Book for this issue of the CFU newsletter. So here goes:
This will not be a very amazing story. But while I had not yet found THE book, don’t think that I was just sitting around reading any old books that didn’t offer me any good food for thought. I not only sought out such books, but they seemed to find me no matter where I went.
Knowing the various books that found me over the years, it will probably be easy to see how they were priming me for that one great book that would one day fall into my hands. Allow me to list some of them for you. First, there were a lot of strictly Catholic books, back in the day I was Catholic and thinking of becoming a nun. Then, of course, because I wrote and loved poetry, I read The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran and The Essential Rumi. I also read different translations of The Koran and five different versions of The Bible. Some of the other books included the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad-Gita, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Essential Kabbalah, and The Way of a Pilgrim (and its sequel).
But whether or not the very last book I read before I came across the one book that would become my constant companion, was Book Six of the very thought-provoking set of books I came across and enjoyed: The Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East.
I was a sponge for learning and seeking ever more of the truth that was there to be found, no matter how many more books I would have to read to find what I was searching for. And the books I mentioned above were far from the only books I read in my quest to find answers. I can’t even remember the names of some of the more arcane books that just whet my appetite for more, yet I would continue to search in old bookstores and such “just in case.”
Before I even had a computer that would allow me to search for books the easy way, online, every time I was in a modern bookstore I would be sure to search in the metaphysical, philosophy, and religious sections for books that would catch my eye. And that’s exactly where I found THE book, the book I was always searching for but didn’t know it: The Urantia Book.
Whether it was in Borders or Barnes & Noble, I do not really remember. THAT was not the critical part of my find. But there it was, a larger-than-most of the other books on the top shelf, calling to me. I could hardly ignore it.
This was back in the early part of 1990; I’ll never forget because it was the same year I met my Mr. Right, the man I would marry. Imagine! Finding that wonderful book and the love of my life in the same year! That book for me might just as well have been called The Answer Book because it’s the best book I ever read for answering the questions I always had. (And Mr. Right, of course, was the answer to my prayers.)
It remains so to this day…and it didn’t hurt that I found the man I loved in the same year. Coincidence? I think not!
