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WHAT IS GOD? PREFACE FROM PETER RODGER’S ‘THE OMG CHRONICLES’ COURTESY OF HAY HOUSE
WWW.HAYHOUSE.COM.AU But what exactly is God? Does anyone really know?
It was this yearning that must have bubbled to the surface that sunny morning in Utah, and as the weeks passed, the desire to find out what other individuals around the world thought about this contentious issue took root and began to grow. There are so many conflicting ideas about God, as well as so much sensitivity. I wanted to know why everyone gets so riled up about this entity that means different things to different people. Perhaps if I posed the same set of questions to a diverse group of men, women, and children, some light could be shed upon this ancient conundrum.
So in 2006, without any financial backers, I took a line of credit out on my house (which in those days was actually increasing in value) and went out into the world to ask these questions. I did an intense amount of reading and research. I knew I couldn’t make a film about what people thought God was without embracing the major religions and visiting the Middle East. I wanted my journey to unfold organically, with one thing leading naturally to another.
I asked all my friends and family for suggestions and introductions, and most of the people you will meet in this book came as contacts from that process. Since there was no way I could accomplish the whole journey in one trip, I let circumstance take its course and did it in chunks—so I could at least come home from time to time and make sure my family wouldn’t forget who I was. I had no idea when I started just how long the process would take, or that it would culminate in my penning the work you now hold in your hands.
The OMG Chronicles started on day one with a journal that became the germ for these written words, but it was the excitement and the hilarity of circumstance that made writ- ing this book as important, if not more important, than the film itself. There was so much said by so many wonderful people that couldn’t be expressed in a 98-minute documentary, so the book quickly became an opportunity to delve deeper and experience the layers of the world in which we live, as well as feel the hearts of those with whom we share our lives.
But most of all, it is the behind-the-scenes adventures—and misadventures—that make The OMG Chronicles such a wonderful extension to Oh My God. So much happened during the making of the film that obviously had no part in the movie itself, but which added much color to the backstory—from how I got to each place; to the people with whom I traveled; to the sometimes poignant, occasionally unbelievable, and oftentimes downright hilarious characters and experiences I encountered along the way.
Some made me laugh, some made me cry, but all of them, in their own ways, contributed something unforgettable to this journey. But back when my journey started, I had no idea of any of this. All I knew was that there were two things driving me: one was a question that no one, to my knowledge, had ever answered satisfactorily; the other, I’ll confess, was a desperate need for adventure and escape. I yearned to shoot the world through my own lens, as opposed to the one commissioned by a client.
And perhaps, too, I was a little unhealthily motivated to do something to serve, and cultivate, my own ego. That was the air that was in my lungs—those were the desires that were keeping me alive—and it gives me great pleasure to share this journey, warts and all, in the following pages.
When I started out, I thought it would be fun to have a six- month adventure. . . . Nothing could prepare me for what I found.
AU $24.95 NZ $32.00
Masai Warrior, Kenya Photo: Peter Rodger
KNOWLEDGE
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