Ithaca Insights: A Mystical Odyssey

Are you open to the possibility of all possibilities? Get ready to release your previous views and beliefs, and step into a strangely freeing world that will draw you closer to God and truth than you ever thought possible.

In response to Contoveros’s previous book, Francis of Assisi: A Novel Awakening to Lady Poverty, Kirkus Reviews writes, ＂The story manages to bring together in a satisfying and relatable way the various religions it explores, showing similarities among faiths that have long been supposed to be diametrically opposed.＂ And now, in a similar vein, the author dexterously walks the line of inclusion yet again with his latest book, Mystical Insights: An Ithaca Odyssey.

An inspirational memoir of his own madcap journey of holy discovery that began with a three-day retreat at a Buddhist monastery, Mystical Insights reveals just how intimate a relationship you can enjoy with the Creator when you choose to harness your ego and love all unconditionally.

A Vietnam veteran who suffered from PTSD, Contoveros knows how far removed you can feel from life-but that is only part of the story, and it doesn’t have to be the final chapter. Are you ready to choose a new path?

Contoveros is a Vietnam veteran who was drafted and served as an infantry platoon leader. After the war he worked as a newspaper reporter and union organizer until he decided to serve his hometown of Philadelphia as a public defender.

He spent twenty years trying hundreds of cases in court, once defending poor young men in a string of ten jury trials in less than nine weeks-before he started suffering from combat-inflicted flashbacks, which eventually forced him to change the course of his life. But in spite of the crippling effects of PTSD, he discovered a spiritual path through meditation and special insight. Now a mystic-in-training, he writes to share his new found understanding with others, adding Mystical Insights: An Ithaca Odyssey to his previous book, Francis of Assisi: A Novel Awakening to Lady Poverty.