Mirabelle Pollywog
I had this great idea the other day to write and illustrate a children’s picture book about Integral Theory. It wouldn’t have any Integral language, and although a child of picture-book-reading age might not exactly grok all the nuances of Integral Theory, they could be exposed to the concepts in ways that they could understand. Sort of a child’s first book of Integral Theory. The art is created in Photoshop using a collage style of layering, cutouts, and patterns.
The main character, Mirabelle meets several creatures living in the pond ecosystem where she was born. Her hope in life is to make it to frogdom without being eaten. But, beyond that, she wonders why we exist at all. When we meet Mirabelle she’s still a tadpole. Her journey from egg to frog will serve as the illustration of levels. The eight pond dwellers are each a different Enneatype and explain, in their own ways, the AQAL elements to her. She will describe different states of consciousness from the first person, have an intersubjective understanding with some of her pond mates, and upon becoming a frog, will take an objective view from outside the pond—the only world she’s known until now. Still not sure how to work in lines. I would also like to include the three postmetaphysical concepts from Excerpt B; nonexclusion (everyone is at least partially right); enactment (nothing is pregiven, but has bits and pieces added to it by the subject experiencing in a particular context); and enfoldment (karma and creativity—every moment is half carried over from the past and half brand new).
I find my self thinking about how I would explain this to my 11-year-old nephew or 6-year-old niece. How much would they understand? Does she already know that tadpoles transform into frogs? Does he care why we exist? Is he satisfied with the explanations he’s been given? Has he even asked? I forsee a road trip in my near future—a little market research perhaps. Plus, it’s just good practice to put this into regular language. Then I’m not standing, mouth open trying to explain what’s so big about Integral Theory and why I’m spending so much time, effort, and money on a degree in a subject that few have ever heard of.
The actual art has come without struggle so far. But, even from the first to second illustrations, I’ve found my self developing a style and committing to a path. This may mean that I’ll go back and re-do the cover image (shown above) to match the rest of the illustrations. It will be about 20 or so pages long. I can get a nice hardcover edition printed through iPhoto which allows me some flexibility in length. Below are some samples of children’s books I think are high quality, both in illustration and in story. Before forging ahead in Photoshop though, I must finalize the narrative and storyboard the flow. I look forward to the time I get to spend on this.
Current Influences:
