The adventure began in 2003. I was 29 years old at the time. Dabbling in writing, I was looking to write a book where the roles of heroes and villains were reversed. It was to include a scene where a hero was to receive insights via automatic writing, only these insights originated from a demon and were meant to deceive rather than enlighten. To make the scene believable, I thought it prudent to get my hands on some genuine sample material. I spotted the book Conversations with God in a bookstore. The author claimed to have acquired the material through automatic writing, so I bought the book and started reading.

About half-way through, it dawned on me that this was not the stuff of satire. Raised Catholic but with many unanswered questions that I successfully suppressed for years, I not only found many of them answered, but weaved together into an internally consistent tapestry that elucidated the most fundamental questions of human existence. Stupefied and restless, I purchased and read the remainder of the series. It gave me the licence I needed to craft a worldview that I wanted instead of looking for creative ways to make peace with the worldview that I've always thought I had to adopt. I gradually let go of the views that I disagreed with, kept those that still made sense to me, and supplemented them with insights from other religions, philosophies and schools of thought.

This process took centre stage in my life. It displaced work as the primary consumer of my free time. In fact, work, family life and all other activities became expressions of the process. Even aspects of my life that appear to have remained unchanged are experienced in a whole new light.

I've since read many books and other texts on a wide variety of subjects - spiritual teachings, research into the paranormal, education and child rearing, ecology, medicine, ancient cultures, and others. They have helped me form the views that I have today. More than that, they have enabled me to find meaningful ways to express them through action.

My main interest has become deliberate living - awakening to the possibilities of any given situation, identifying the most authentic ones, and reaping the benefits of having pursued them. More tersely, living life as if in answer to the question: Who am I? This is the most rewarding approach to life that I've been able to find and is the subject of my second book.

This is essentially where I am today - searching for new insights, looking for ways to express the ones that I've got, and seeking companionship with other people who are or wish to be on the same journey.

It is a grand adventure!