Regarding my small self – I was born and raised in a Catholic family of six kids, saturated with a dozen years of religious education.  By age ten, I was heavily invested in the idea of serving a greater God, encouraged by nuns and priests that this was an apex vocation.  I feared hell and sought the promised heaven paradise.  I was impressed by and wanted to emulate the selfless lives of the saints and Christ. 

And I grew up, wandering and wondering broadly.  As time passed, I became skeptical of the narrowness of early faith lessons and became interested in other beliefs.  I studied and practiced eastern schools of thought.  I became a carpenter and builder.  I married and help raise our two children. 

At thirty, my constructed life map unraveled after a series of personal setbacks, betrayals, and the untethering of primary anchors that previously held me.  After a challenging mental reorganization and recovery, I returned to school and changed careers, becoming a clinical social worker, working as a therapist and administrator until retirement. 

I continue to draw immense satisfaction from adventures in the Rocky Mountains that shadow our city.  At sixty, I nearly died in an avalanche, saved by the fortuitous efforts of another adventurer who happened to be in the proximity.   The near-death event served as a catalyst for another personal reorganization and life map rerouting.  I brought to life two unfulfilled aspirations: 1) starting a non-profit grant organization to fund international community development projects, and 2) solidifying ideas about God and our purpose that had been incubating since childhood and writing this book.

Regarding our greater self (G) -- the collective we that I have continued to pursue, learn, and serve, I would offer this view --  “We are a sand grain near ocean’s edge on a blue planet spinning in the cosmos.  The entire cosmos resides within the grain.  We are cocreators of a universe at play -  producer, actor, audience.  We are a tiny part, the immense whole.   We are no one, nothing, everyone, and all.  We are G.”

Martin Waters

And so flows G.