Stephen Iacoboni was born in 1952. It was one of the most prosperous and optimistic periods in all of human history. America had emerged victorious in the great war, ready to lead the world in freedom and democracy. Everyone was a churchgoer. There was little social unrest. But the tranquility did not last. In the '60s came Vietnam, and the social upheaval of the civil rights and antiwar movements. In addition, scientists had unraveled the chemical code of life, and made the claim that God was dead.
Stephen graduated with honors from Occidental college and then UC San Francisco medical school. He persevered through the tragedy of losing both his father and mother before either of them reached age 50. But worse than that, Stephen was an orphan of faith. The Catholicism of his Italian upbringing, which had him faithfully attending parochial school for 12 years, no longer held sway in his heart and mind.
His new "parents" were the demigods of science. He rose rapidly in his profession as a junior professor at the exalted MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas. There he believed that he would cure cancer, and rid the world of the scourge which had taken his beloved mother and so many others. That was 40 years ago.
But the cure was not to be, and the quest still went on. Dr. Iacoboni realized that his true passion was at the bedside, holding the hand of the cancer patient. He had to leave academia, the research labs and endless meetings. The myths of his childhood shattered, and the ambitions of his young career in doubt, he sought refuge in an agrarian community in rural Washington state, where he hoped to become the cancer doctor he had dreamed of becoming.
That year was 1986 and the place was Walla Walla, Washington. Dr. Iacoboni was the very first board-certified medical oncologist to serve in that region, which took up to 50% of the entire southeastern portion of the state. Those years are chronicled in his memoir, THE UNDYING SOUL. Working tirelessly, sometimes 100 hours a week, and immersed in the struggle of life and death with his cancer patients, the miracle he had prayed for finally took place. He regained his soul, the one he had left behind in San Francisco, so long ago.
That memoir is a story of his personal journey of redemption. Even though it was self-published, it has sold almost 10,000 copies. He continued to work full-time, wondering what more he could contribute beyond his blood, sweat, and tears. And then he realized after years of study and research that he must write one more book.
That book is TELOS. The goal of TELOS is to aid others in their own personal journey of redemption. Dr. Iacoboni realized that the secular mythology of the 21st Century had overwhelmed society, leaving the average person incapable and/or unequipped to see through the distortion of the technological maze. That very same thicket of entanglements with which he himself had struggled so long to overcome. His success in doing so gave him the courage and insight to attempt to provide that same clarity to others. That pathway to clarity is laid bare in TELOS. Therein you will find everything you need to know about the science of life and purpose: why we are here, and where we are going.
God bless you on your journey.