Dear friends,
I am shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Mark Bloomfield, the Urantia Book reader and humanitarian who introduced Sue Tennant and me to Sister Crescence and FreeSchools in India during our 2006 visit. You can read about that experience here: https://FreeSchools.org.
The only details I have are in the news items below. Apparently, he was beaten up by a man in a bar brawl in Wales. Mark was a complex character and I am not surprised that this could have happened, though we don’t know about the motive. I will try to contact his family for more details.
Saskia
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-49098480
https://heavy.com/news/2019/07/mark-bloomfield/
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I am shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Mark Bloomfield. It was Mark’s passionate speech in Sydney 2006 UAI conference that sent Jildou and I to Thailand to work on Freeschools, which forever changed our trajectory in life. The month I had “training” in Fang, Thailand with Mark was some of the most amazing days I’ve had on this planet. He was a friend and a guide and bloody good drinking buddy. He was also profoundly inspiring and has changed my life as he has changed so many through his various service initiatives all over the world.
Our thoughts are with his family, Mark you old “so & so” I shall see you on the Mansion Worlds where no doubt there is much rabble to be roused. You are One of a kind and I love you and miss you.
Thank you for everything you have done for our planet and we shall do our utmost to continue your legacy of fulfilling the Fathers will (while having a bloody good time.)
Show me what you value and I’ll tell you what you’re worth” — one of Mark’s great lines of wisdom
Peaceful travels Mark my brother
Ben Bowler
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I remember Mark in 2006 at the UAI international conference in Australia and in his shocking speech he said : Now that you read all about God, what will you do for Him ?
Line St-Pierre
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Whenever a person is beholden to the inspiration to “serve the Father” there is a moment where the journey begins, a moment when courage is an afterthought. Now here’s a man who set out to be the front foot for a group of vanguards who physically took the Urantia Book to hundreds of places never to be revisited. Blessings to you Mark for all your efforts Brother.
Peace & Love awaits
Bernie Belarski
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Mark was a true humanitarian and is the one who introduced Sue Tennant and me to Sister Crescence in Bihar in India and got us involved with FreeSchools. Before that Sue and I were with him in Fang where he showed us the work he was doing there.
Saskia Raevouri
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I lived with Mark for six months in a house in Nottingham UK. A unique time in my life. He gave me the UB. I was stunned by his altruism towards others in far away places. Distance and culture were no limitations to him and the way he lived. He placed himself in so much danger over the years in difficult places and almost seemed to thrive on it. We lost touch over the years aside from very occasional phone calls and Emails. As Ben said, truly a one of a kind.
Charlie Fox
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Rick Warren:
Seeding the Field—What Works for Me by Mark Bloomfield ~ UK
From: UAI's JOURNAL March 2004
In response to Urantia Foundation's request that I, as the Field Representative, write something for the benefit of readers interested in seeding the revelation as part of our library placement program, the following represents what, in over 6,000 hand seedings worldwide, has never once failed me:
1. Disassociate yourself.
Whether you plan on making a single library placement or to make seeding the revelation your lifelong mission, learn to leave yourself out. De-link your personal feelings of self-worth with whatever happens in the field. If, upon the outcome of each seeding, you choose to pin the issue of whether you are one of life's winners or losers, you will probably exhaust yourself before you even start. The surer we are about ourselves, the less the opinions of others tend to affect us, and vice versa. In all the years I've seeded the revelation, I've probably had less than a dozen or so outright refusals, but if during the next day's seeding I were to get a dozen refusals back to back, I genuinely wouldn't care.
2. Be natural.
My bungling incompetence is possibly my greatest single asset. If you feel moved to freely and unselfishly give something beautiful to your fellows just for the sake of it, then so genuine an article are you, that the notion that you might have any need of the slick ways of the salesman becomes at once perfectly laughable. People love 'coming to your rescue', so let them. I've had junior librarians pitch the book to their chiefs for all they are worth simply because they saw me as a 'friend in need', a fellow bungling, stumbling (but honest) mortal. "He's one of us!" they will think as you walk away.
3. What do I say?
Well, what in a nutshell is The Urantia Book without using the dangerously loaded words like 'revelation' or 'religion'? A harmonization of science, philosophy and spirituality, it brings together 'things' on the physical level, 'meanings' on the intellectual level, and 'values' on the spiritual level; it is a convergence of a number of different subjects including science, philosophy, history, cosmology and spiritual inspiration, a favorite source of inspiration! But you don't even have to say this much if you don't want to. What's wrong with, "I'd like to donate a copy of my favorite book to your library. Can I leave it with you?" Keep it simple. Your subject incidentally accepted The Urantia Book as a donation about two seconds after you opened your mouth, and for the following crucial reason:
4. Love thy neighbor.
If, with your friendly, smiling face, you made immediate eye contact with your subject, it isn't because this boring old fossil suggested it, but rather that it was your own spontaneous choice to do so in that you simply love your fellow human beings. This is no blind presumption on my part. It is self evident or else you wouldn't be in the situation you are in.
5. Think as big as you like.
The flip side of the quote that ambition is dangerous until it's fully socialized (557.3) is that having socialized our ambitions, we can be as ambitious as we want. There is no contradiction here between the disassociated self and this constructive ambition. Indeed, it could be argued that the one largely precipitates the realization of the other.
Try to look beyond this rather limiting notion of mere library placements and see the direct connection here with what you are engaged in and the Master's admonition to his apostles to carry the gospel to the ends of the world. Some, like me, claim that he wasn't only talking to those within earshot, but to all those for an age to come who have it in their heart to serve the kingdom.
The seeds of renaissance are now being sown in the world centers of science, philosophy and religion. If we as individuals are a part of it, then it will be a part of us—even through the great centers to Paradise itself.
Source:
https://urantia-association.org/.../uai.../journal-archives/
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Rick Warren: Here's another of Mark's adventures in global dissemination, this one in Burma, from Urantia Foundation News report (2001):
Burma:
Against risky odds, Mark managed to take 30 books into Burma as part of his personal luggage. Here's what he had to say about his Burmese adventure:
Now there aren't many libraries in Burma. With the 30 books I had with me, I was able to cover all the important bases. Foreigners are prohibited from entering university campuses so needless to say, all the universities I visited ended up as a story in itself. At Rangoon University, I finally managed to befriend the guards who eventually escorted me to the librarian. He happily accepted the book, then showed me next door to the Universities Central Library, the headquarters of the entire Burmese university library system where I had a wonderful long talk with the lady librarian, who was a devout Buddhist. We had much in common, especially the notion of universal brotherhood. At Dagon University on the edge of Rangoon, I waited at the main gate for over an hour whilst a steady stream of guards shuttled between me and the librarian relaying message after message. Eventually she came out herself to receive the books, which she did cheerfully and good naturedly. In another university, I walked straight in and just as I found the library, (which in this case was too small and specialized for the book) I was suddenly surrounded by 5 men who politely though purposefully marched me off the premises.
Source/much more of Mark's reports:
https://www.urantia.org/search/node/mark%20bloomfield
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Line St-Pierre: Last night when we heard of Mark, we told this exact story to one of our sons and he replied, is it the guy that you usually call the Indiana Jones of the Urantia Book?
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A charity worker who worked with Mother Teresa in India has died after an alleged attacked in Swansea.
Mark Bloomfield, 54, died on Saturday after he was found injured in High Street in the city centre last Thursday.
A man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm.
The family of Mr Bloomfield, originally from Stratford Upon Avon, paid tribute to his charity work across the world saying he "had built a legacy".
They said that as a special assistant to Mother Teresa in Calcutta, he was an essential contributor to her mission.
Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun worked with the poor in India and died in 1997 - aged 87.
"In India, he organised free cataract surgery camps and founded schools that gave rare access to education for girls. In Africa, he helped preserve wild game by introducing ultralight aircraft to combat the onslaught of poachers.
"He will be remembered for all of this and more by his mother and three siblings."
The family said Mr Bloomfield would continue to have an impact on others' lives as a registered organ donor.
