On the Cosmic Background: “God Does Not Play Dice”
Sunshine Coast, Queensland
5 to 8 October, 2018
God is not a cosmic accident; neither is he a universe experimenter… the Universal Father sees the end from the beginning, and his divine plan and eternal purpose actually embrace and comprehend all the experiments and all the adventures of all his subordinates… [Paper 2:1.4, page 34.3]
This year the ANZURA conference returns to the welcoming, beach-side venue of Alexandra Park that we last enjoyed in 2012.
Come and listen to a balanced speaking program taken from all four parts of The Urantia Book following a theme intended to draw revealed information about the cosmic background into the foreground of our understanding. Engage in the ensuing flurry of thoughtful exchanges that over a full weekend usually add up to quite a memorable conversation. Be part of a one-time study group working on at least one paper in detail. And spend some quiet time in comforting sea air whenever you wish.
A path to understanding a complicated work such as The Urantia Book can be built in many ways and the conference weekend combines several of the best. By sincere and gentle effort in friendly company we can indeed make “the crooked straight and the rough places plain”.
About the Conference Theme
The idea that there is “something else going on out there”, a cosmic something happening in the background just slightly removed from everyday consciousness and from reality seems to resonate in the human mind. It’s an idea that arises so often in The Urantia Book and in so many different ways that it should be a conference theme of interest to all readers.
While our superstitions, our religions and our philosophies have always attended to this cosmic background, science spent a couple of productive centuries entirely within everyday reality. That is until the early twentieth century when quantum physics introduced much-unwanted strangeness (even “spookiness”) and some very-much-unwanted fundamental uncertainty into the theoretical mix.
By 1927 Albert Einstein in a letter to Max Born had written that “He (God) does not play dice”, that a final theory would not rely on probability, and just a hint that there might be other levels of reality with access to a more complete understanding than our physics can obtain from our level. Perhaps it can be said that the timely granting of such access began soon after, in 1934, with the revelation of The Urantia Book. Its four parts are suggestive of ways in which our conference presentations might relate to the theme “cosmic background”.
The first and second parts of The Urantia Book describe physical realities, orders of beings, sources, origins and unifying principles, all beyond everyday awareness and instilling an appropriate sense of awe and wonder.
The third part features a deep history of evolution hinting at a background, decision-making power of animal mind. We might do well to appreciate the grandeur of the evolutionary process which only seems ordinary because we still live there, right where random change meets conscious response.
The fourth part describes Jesus living and teaching as an individual on Urantia and we are led to notice that some of what we think of as cosmic background was actually in his foreground of awareness. Evidently we can choose what to leave in the background, “blind as one who will not see”, and we can choose what to call into the foreground, “knock and it shall be opened”, and we can choose how cosmic to let it seem, “the beginning of all wisdom”.
Venue
Alexandra Park Conference Centre, Mari Street, Alexandra Headland, QLD 4572.
Alexandra Headland is located between Mooloolaba and Maroochydore on Queensland’s beautiful Sunshine Coast, a little more than an hour’s drive north of Brisbane. The Centre is nestled in one of the few remaining pockets of rainforest bushland in the Sunshine Coast region, featuring wetlands preserved for their significance to the local natural environment. Despite its bush setting, the Conference Centre is only 200 metres away from a patrolled surf beach. Other facilities of the Centre include a swimming pool, games room and outdoor chapel.
Catering
Dining is in a central facilities building a short garden walk away from the conference room. The Centre will provide all meals from Friday dinner to Monday breakfast. Tea, coffee and other refreshments will also be available.
Special dietary requirements such as vegetarian, vegan, coeliac- and lactose-free meal options are available upon request. (Please indicate on the registration form.) Other food allergies and requirements may be able to be catered for. (Please contact the Centre directly for further information. Phone: 1300 789 192 or email: info@alexpark.com.au.)
Cost
Full conference $400—includes 3 nights of twin-share accommodation with en-suite bathroom, bed linen and all meals from Friday night dinner to Monday breakfast. (If you do not wish to share a room please indicate on the registration form. Additional charges will apply.)
Daily Rate $80—includes both lunch and dinner.
Daily Rate $50—includes lunch only.
Transport
There are a variety of airport shuttle bus services that will deliver you door-to-door to and from the Sunshine Coast Airport, for example “Con-X-ion Airport Transfers” at https://www.con-x-ion.com/services/sunshine-coast-airport-transfers. Other similar services can easily be found by doing a Google search. (Advanced bookings are usually required.)
Enquiries and Registrations
To register click on the registration link below or on the brochure’s image.
For further information please contact:
ANZURA
Ph: 0431 285 943
anzura@urantia-anzura.org
PO Box 1581
Warriewood, NSW 2102