Where did Becoming Me come from?
A note from the author.
One day, deep in meditation, I experienced a presence so vast and embracing that there was no longer any up or down, in or out, this or that. There was no 'me' and there was no 'anything else'. There was just One Mind, everywhere and always, taking different shapes, moment by moment.
I had been searching for something like this my whole life. Now that truth, the climax of my search, was here. God was everywhere around me, singing to me and through me.
I had expected a moment of such seriousness, but this was an experience of great joy and laughter. The deepest desire of God, and the deepest expression of God's love, I discovered, is play. God wants to explore all the possibilities of creation. Only in form can God experience the joys and heartbreaks of being alive, of being you and being me. For God, who is infinite and eternal, the greatest thrill is to become limited and temporary. Or in other words, God likes being little.
And that's when I heard a phrase, like a suggestion whispered in my ear. The voice was so soft I almost missed it. In a tone of innocence and curiosity it said, simply: 'Once a upon a time, I was'. There was so much in this small phrase ... a sense of time and timelessness, wisdom and wonder. Might it be possible to express the deepest spiritual ideas in the form of a children's book?
Becoming Me is the result of that suggestion. It's a story of creation from the Creator's point-of-view, the story of a God who loves to play. In writing the story, although I checked my ideas with the great works of many religions, I mostly listened for the curious, childlike voice I heard that day. I listened for its big wisdom and infinite heart, and above all, its innocence, and I followed. I discovered that even the most serious ideas make more sense when told simply, from the heart.
My hope is that it will make deep sense to you in that inner place we rarely touch but always know is there. I hope it will remind you of the divine play in which we find ourselves, and that the ultimate nature of all things is love.
-- Marty Boroson
Text © 2003-2004 Martin Boroson (unless otherwise noted);
Illustrations © 2003-2004 Christopher Gilvan-Cartwright