Matt Pallamary appears in episode 6 of Psychonautica and episode 75 of the C-Realm Podcast.

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Product Description

Spirit touches us in every moment of our existence; only most of us are caught up in the dramas that we have created in our lives, blinding us to a reality far greater than anything we can imagine with our rational minds. It is simply a matter of awareness. Though we often feel lost and abandoned in a cold and uncaring world, the truth is that we live in the illusion of our own self-created exile, away from the Source of our being which has never stopped loving us -- unconditionally. The time has come to awaken and pass through the darkness of our fear induced slumber to embrace the light of truth, and find our way back to the infinite light of love that comes to us from the Source of all creation. Awareness is presence, which means being fully present, in the present, right here, right now, in this moment, standing in the light of truth, which is the greatest present anyone can receive. Matthew Pallamary's SPIRIT MATTERS chronicles his life long search for truth, which took him from the false spirituality of a violent concrete jungle in an Irish Catholic ghetto in Boston, to the discovery of true spirituality in the jungles of the Amazon where he discovered the truth. Spirit does matter.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189306 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-14
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 250 pages

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Customer Reviews

Spirit Matters
I couldn't put the book down. It is an extraodinary tale of an ordinary man. The book is incredibly well written and the most beautiful aspect is the story - the simple truth of one man's search. If you've had any experience in the Peruvian jungle...that first chapter transports you right back there...to the point of slapping imaginary critters from your legs. I was hooked from that first chapter. Kudos to Matt Pallamary for the courage to share his story and to remind us all that Spirit does Matter.

Spirit Matters Wins First Place in San Diego Book Awards.Com
Spirit Matters Wins First Place in San Diego Book Awards Competition
Engaging, Intimate Portrait of a Man's Search for Truth in the Jungles of Peru Wins Top Honor in Spiritual Books Competition

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - A renowned storyteller's sometimes mystic, always adventuresome journey to awareness in the new memoir Spirit Matters (published by Mystic Ink Publishing), won First Place in the San Diego Book Awards. Author Matthew J. Pallamary's spiritually important message is stirring the minds, bodies and souls of readers as they follow him from an Irish Catholic ghetto in Boston to the Amazonian jungles of Peru.
Pallamary, the son of a beautiful acrobat and her codeine-addicted musician husband, opens his story with a portrait of his often violent childhood. After his father nearly kills his family with his unstable and abusive behavior and winds up incarcerated, the author and his family must move into a blue-collar Boston ghetto where Pallamary quickly earns street cred through thievery and fighting.
"Early on I decided on two major goals in life," he recalls. "To try everything I could at least once, and to be a successful criminal, as successful criminals were idolized in my neighborhood."
Despite being raised in a Catholic household, Pallamary is not impinged on by a specific doctrine. "I kept my belief in God, but my hazy conception of a divine being didn't fit in with the God of organized religion," he says.
The blend of his loose belief system and a willingness to try anything lead him to a turning point. At the age of 21, Pallamary has a profound mystical experience that he says transformed the core of his being. After ingesting the seeds of a psychoactive plant, Pallamary says his "perceptions opened like unfolding blossoms."
"My whole being expanded, making me highly aware of the magic, complexity and connectedness of everything both through me and in me," he explains. "In a flash, all of the pieces snapped into place."
As a result of his brush with his inner cosmos, Pallamary begins researching shamanism and the ancient concept of visionary plants as spiritual tools. In an attempt to approach hallucinogens from a perspective of respect and learning - rather than as a seeker of mindless, chaotic thrills - Pallamary again experiments with psychoactive plants. However this time the experience is filled with despair and Pallamary must be pulled from the brink of suicide by his mother.
Resolved to breakthrough the barriers of circumstance, the author continues his research into mysticism. He reads about a substance known as Ayahuasca, which has been used by indigenous South American tribes as a magical healing potion since prehistoric times. Determined to try the revered plant, Pallamary tracks down a Peruvian shaman who allows the author to try the plant in a formal healing circle. The experience is rapturous, and serves to bolster Pallamary's now sacred enterprise. Soon, the author is invited to spend 10 days with shamans deep in the Amazon jungle, where he will partake in an intensive Ayahuasca diet.
While in the jungle, Pallamary reaches a point where the line between waking and dreaming blurs. His lucid dreaming heightens his awareness and understanding, connecting his personal experiences with his spiritual journey, and tightens his once loose grasp on God, the universe, even his family. Readers will be inspired how Pallamary's travels - both physical and metaphysical - forever change his sense of reality.
"Spirit touches us in every moment of our existence; only most of us are caught up in the dramas that we have created in our lives, blinding us to a reality far greater than anything we can imagine with our rational minds," says Pallamary. "It is simply a matter of awareness."
Pallamary's other books include The Small Dark Room Of The Soul, A Short Walk To The Other Side, and Land Without Evil.

Reality spirituality
Okay, I'll say it . . . I got angry with the author. That's because I had a busy day planned and thought I'd just glance at the first few pages. Then I couldn't put the book down; I had to keep turning those pages!

Bottom line? While so many of us talk the talk about matters spiritual, few actually walk that often frightening walk. Matt did, and he's not afraid to be seen naked in scene after well-described scene. This is a solid, no-holds-barred book about one man's journey and the great truths he both discovered and uncovered about himself, about others and about the universe.

Bravo, Cassouac . . . "A.B." is proud of you!