 I remember a summer morning when I was a small child. The fresh dew, moist and cool beneath my feet, gently covered the backyard. The warmth of the sun's softly diffused rays foretold of another hot summer day. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something magical, something that left its enduring impression upon me. It was the shimmer of a golden frog leaping within the hedges. On all fours, I pursued it, hoping for another look. For a brief instant, there it was again, leaping between the branches. The next instant - gone.
I didn't understand why the experience touched me so deeply. But my enchantment with it has always remained. The unfathomable mysteries of existence are my passion - the common theme stringing all the events of my life together, like pearls on a thread.
As an adult, I mentioned my golden frog experience to a saint I was visiting in India. He simply smiled, nodded, and said, "In time, you will discover its significance for yourself." The look on his face told me he knew something, but wouldn't tell. After writing The Golden Frog, in remembering that interaction, I can't shake the feeling that somehow he knew about the book.
How did this book come into being? I can view it in different ways. In one sense, it is the expression of the essence of all my life experiences. From another perspective, it was a heartfelt flow seeded by a moment of insight into the golden frog.
Ever since childhood, my passion has been to fathom life's deepest mysteries. It led me from philosophy to physics and even a monastery in India. It has left me humbled. The mysteries of life cannot be comprehended through mere information. It is all too subtle and sublime. The Golden Frog is an adventure about the place we feel inside us that can never be grasped, but can at times be touched. It is a story about every person's final frontier - that which lies within. The Magic is inside you.
- Michael Mamas 9/04
I am reading The Golden Frog for the 4th time, and like the first three reads, I am unable and unwilling to put the book down. I frequently find myself reading paragraphs multiple times in an attempt to understand the depth… This book will never get old, and in my opinion it is a "must read" for everyone. – B.B. |
