Words Between Worlds

In 1974, when John Dominelli was twenty years old, he left his home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, on what he originally thought would be a six-month “working holiday” in New Zealand.

However, not long into his journey, feeling the seductive pull of the vast and mysterious world, what started as a planned sojourn eventually turned into an epic three-year spiritual odyssey, taking him from New Zealand to Australia, Asia, India, Europe, and many points between.

John’s journey was interrupted and enriched by a psycho-emotional “meltdown,” two serious illnesses, a powerful psychedelic interlude with psilocybin mushrooms, and a mystical encounter with Nisargadatta Maharaj, the now well-known sage from Bombay.

An epic coming-of-age memoir that is part love letter to a bygone age and part inspirational text, stirring a desire in readers to seek out a life less ordinary.

Author Biography

John Dominelli’s family emigrated from Italy to Canada just before John was born. His experience growing up in two worlds-the immigrant world that existed inside his home and the world of his family’s adopted homeland, which existed everywhere outside those walls-was a key motivator for him to leave Canada and get a broader perspective on his “cultural” self versus his “essential” self.

Despite having experienced so much of what the wider world has to offer, John still makes his home in his beloved British Columbia.