Born in Hollywood in 1940, Thomas Matus's earliest years were spent among the actors and studio people who frequented his father's camera store. He loved music and dreamed of someday composing for the films. At twelve, he was handed a copy of The Autobiography of a Yogi and, though intrigued by the description of India's classical ragas, he was most drawn by the guru's teachings about yoga. In college, he began attending services and meditations at Yogananda's Hollywood Temple and was initiated into Kriya Yoga, the meditation practice of the legendary Himalayan forest-dweller Babaji. On this path of silent devotion, he discovered the Christian mystics. At twenty-one, he arrived at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, a brand-new Catholic hoping to become a Camaldolese Benedictine monk. Journey of a Lifetime is the story of this brilliant young man and the intense spiritual search that led him to his very own guru-the Catholic Church.