Customer Reviews

Spirit Matters

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This is one of those books that will keep you up at night, to read "just one more" chapter! It is well written - a few words go a long way in the way he describes things, and is really hard to put down.

This is up there amongst my all-time favorite books - so good that I've bought a few extra to give to friends.

What an amazing life!

Spirit Matters is an fascinating journey written by a fascinating man. Matt has discovered a core truth about life. Rest assured folks, this book will make you rethink all you've ever taken for granted. Five Stars!

Andrew Peterson

An inspiring literary work with a deeper understanding of the connection to the spirit that carries us through life. Pallamary's journey proves that there are no obstables that cannot be overcome when we trust our inner guidance and learn to flow with spirit. An eye opening experiential tale of the twists and turns that bring us to this moment. Honest and refreshing- a must read!

Throughout my life I've had many questions. Spirit Matters assisted me in discovering new insights and thus guided me in answering some of my questions. I was able to take Matthew J. Pallamary's Truths regarding his life and apply them to my own. It appears to me, if I'm not mistaken, that is the sign of a great writer. I've spent much of my life looking for God outwardly. Matthew Pallamary helped me to realize I need to search within and find the Great Spirit at the center of my own Being. The Bible says "The Kingdom of God is within." Matt's life is proof of this.
In my humble opinion, the message in Spirit Matters is that Truth comes from our relationship to the Great Whole. Fear and doubt cannot proceed from the Eternal Source, they must come from our own consciousness. We must set ourselves right with the Universe, knowing that the Truth is a process of gradual unfoldment of the Inner Self. Spirit Matters is a wonderful medium through which the Soul can operate to fulfill its purpose: having belief, acceptance and trust that "I have it All." I'm simply evolving to a place of "knowing" that.
Thank you Cassouac (MP) for this conscious commingling of your thoughts with Spirit. This is essential to the well Being of every part of us. Mateo has learned from Nature, which is always True. He has been taught qualities of character that last forever. It appears that his Soul is that of a child and his Mind that of a philosopher (as Ishi would put it). Looking into the mind of Matt Pallamary, I can see the kind of creature that man is, and, that which we must become, in order to survive. Matt judges no one, but realizes that all are on the road of experience, seeking the same goal, and that each must ultimately find his home in Heaven.
Thank you Spirit Matters for guiding me to consciously embody what I wish to Be.

Spirit is immaterial, but incredibly vital to a person's well being. "Spirit Matters" is author Matthew Pallamary's personal and candid reflections on finding his own spirituality. His tale takes him from the harsh streets of Boston all the way across the Caribbean to the Amazon, where he soon figures out what really matters in life. A guide to becoming aware of one's true spirituality, "Spirit Matters" is a must for those who are going through life with no direction and no contentment.

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.

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!

Spirit Matters is an inspiring journey of healing and self transformation coming straight from the heart. Pallamary's search for truth is not only a page turner, it is energized with a blue print for evolution. Bravo!

Matthew Pallamary's "Spirit Matters" is a gem of a book. But it is more than a book, it a street-level, jungle-adventure, page-turning autobiography in which the author-protagonist courageously takes you down his life journey. "Spirit Matters" is honest to the point of not caring how the reader will judge him because Matthew Pallamary is more interested in the integrity of the journey, i.e. in telling an unflinchingly honest story. At times, this story is less than flattering, if you isolate the snippets of real life events prior to the author's endpoint epiphany that grows out of the darkest moments of his life.

Matthew Pallamary has written a story that is personally cathartic, but on a larger scale, reaches out to teach others, to lend his hand in their personal journeys of struggle. In his heart, Matthew Pallamary is a teacher.

Right out of Joseph Campbell's "The Hero With a Thousand Faces," Matthew Pallamary's "Spirit Matters" follows a protagonist, who is born and raised in virtual poverty in the streets of Dorchester, Massachusetts, where he becomes involved with gangs, drugs, crime and a basic street-survival lifestyle. Through an incredible series of fated events, the author ends up on a deeply spiritual path that echoes Paul Newman's famous title line when playing the role of Rocky Marciano, "hey, somebody up there likes me!"

Matthew Pallamary is called by the Spirit, and he answers. By answering, he changes his life, his perspective and, in turn, does not only help himself, but selflessly helps others.

"Spirit Matters" is a triumphant story that is as personal as it gets, yet Spirit Matters has an easy writing style and literary ease that place this autobiography alongside the best autobiographical non-fiction, Jack Kerouac, "On the Road," Claude Brown's "Manchild in a Promised Land," Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning," "The Autobiography of Malcom X," Ann Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl." To this list add Matthew Palamary's "Spirit Matters."

"Spirit Matters" is a gripping read; no, it is more than that. Great art changes how a person views the world. Spirit Matters does exactly that. It is imprinting on a spiritual, humanitarian and personal level.

--Reviewed by John M. Weiskopf, author of The Ascendancy

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.