Not long ago, surrounded by friends and family, I had the opportunity to share the story behind my book, «Pull Me Out of the Darkness». It was not a formal presentation, but a talk from the heart, a toast among souls who have accompanied me on this long path. Today I want to open the doors to that moment and share with you the journey that transformed my deepest experiences into a novel.
This is not just the story of how a book gets written; it is the chronicle of a journey to the far reaches of spirituality, a confrontation with the science of the mind and the discovery that, sometimes, to tell your truth you first have to turn it into fiction.
It all began more than a decade ago, when my path crossed the ancestral wisdom of Colombia. Through the Muisca community and ceremonies with the Yagé medicine (or Ayahuasca, as many know it), I began to live experiences that were, in my own words, «completely foreign to what I knew».
I found myself immersed in a reality where the magic was not a metaphor. In places like the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, mystery is part of the air you breathe. People talk about the supernatural with the same naturalness with which they talk about the weather. This immersion in the magical realism of my land was the breeding ground for a story that, without my knowing it, had already begun to write itself inside me.
I felt that those stories, which for our circle had become everyday, were extraordinary and deserved to be told. One day, I promised myself, I would do it.
The spiritual path is usually presented as a trail of healing and light, and to a great extent it was. I lived moments of indescribable beauty and connection. However, behind that façade of spiritual healing, a complex problem was brewing: my mental health.
There came a point when the Yagé, the very medicine that had opened the doors of perception for me, ceased to be a help. On the contrary, it began to complicate an inner process that I did not yet fully understand. That is how my journey led me from one extreme to the other: from the deepest depths of esotericism, ancestral magic, and shamanism, to the clinical and pragmatic world of psychiatry.
This duality became the heart of the conflict. I realized that the story was not only about the light, but also about the profound darkness that sometimes hides behind it.
The definitive impulse to write was born one night, at a ceremony with the Taita. There, I verbalized my intention: I would write a book before I turned 45.
The first attempt was a raw autobiography, a pouring-out of more than 600 pages that I titled «Son of the Cosmos». It was too personal, too literal. I published it on Amazon almost in secret, because I did not feel comfortable sharing such an exposed version of my life and of the people in it. I knew that was not the book that had to be.
The true turning point came with the advice of a professional writer, Héctor Forero, who changed everything with a simple idea: «Don't make a story about you. Make a work of fiction.»
That sentence set me free. It allowed me to detach from the literalness of the facts and focus on the essence of the experience. I could change names, merge characters, and alter the chronology to serve a greater purpose: to tell the emotional truth of the journey. I began to translate my own story into a third-person narration, and it was then that the characters took on a life of their own and the plot began to reveal itself by itself.
Although it is a novel, the book is an exploration of very real themes that define the human search:
The title, «Pull Me Out of the Darkness», encapsulates this duality. On the one hand, it is a cry for help, the desperation of one who feels lost. But on the other, it is an invitation, a challenge to bring to light what we keep hidden: our potential, our talents, our own identity as creators.
Writing this book was an exorcism and a catharsis. It was my way of making sense of a path full of contradictions, beauty, and pain. Today, this story is no longer only mine; it belongs to whoever decides to open its pages and accompany Samuel on his journey.
My greatest wish is that, in reading it, you are not only entertained, but that it also serves you as a mirror to explore your own lights and shadows.
Thank you for accompanying me on this adventure.
I would love to know what you think of this process. Have you ever felt yourself at that crossroads between faith and reason? Do you believe that fiction can be a path to finding the truth? Leave your reflections in the comments.
If this story resonates with you, I invite you to read Pull Me Out of the Darkness:
and, if you enjoy it, to leave a review on Goodreads. Your support means the world to me:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237145366-s-came-de-la-oscuridad