Heaven Is Beautiful: How Dying Taught Me That Death Is Just the Beginning PDF
Preview Heaven Is Beautiful: How Dying Taught Me That Death Is Just the Beginning
P “Best page-turning read of the year!” a Peter Baldwin Panagore n —Jennifer Skiff, author ofGod Stories: Inspiring Encounters a g with the Divine and The Divinity of Dogs o He aven r e When Peter Baldwin Panagore died on the side of a mountain, his life was forever changed. Decades later, the intense spiritual journey continues, with a story that combines the thrills of a wilderness adventure with the awe-inspiring elements of a paranormal novel. H I s In March of 1980, college senior Peter Panagore went ice climbing on e the world-famous Lower Weeping Wall, along the Icefields Parkway a in Alberta, Canada. His climbing partner was an experienced ice v climber, but Panagore was a novice. On their descent, they became e trapped on the side of the mountain. As the sun set, he was overcome by exhaustion and hypothermia. He died on the side of that n Beaut i f ul mountain. And in those minutes on the other side, he experienced hell, forgiveness, and unconditional love. Heaven was beautiful. I s Panagore’s death experience changed his life and resulted in an B intense spiritual journey that has continued for decades. It impelled him to pursue a master’s degree at Yale Divinity School, focusing e on systematic theology and Christian mysticism. His educational a background coupled with 30 years of meditative practice and 20 u years of professional work with the dying and grieving has given him t unique insight, language, and perspective on heaven, God, death, life, i love, beauty, and hope. f How Dying Taught Me u l that Death is Just the Beginning I have told my story to audiences large and small for a decade now. . . . My story touches people’s hearts; every time I tell it the audience is gripped and silent. . . . This book is about hope. It is meant to give real hope to the dying, hope to the fearful, hope to the hopeless, hope to the grieving.—from the book www.redwheelweiser.com ISBN: 978-1-57174-734-1 U.S. $16.95 Heaven Is Beautiful HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 1 7/24/15 12:28 PM Lower Weeping Wall on Cirrus Mountain, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, where the author died, crossed over, and then came back to life. Photograph by Peter Valchev. HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 9 7/24/15 12:28 PM Heaven Is Beautiful How Dying Taught Me That Death Is Just the Beginning Peter BaldwIn Panagore HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 3 7/24/15 12:28 PM Copyright © 2015 by Peter Baldwin Panagore all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be repro- duced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Hampton roads Publishing, Inc. reviewers may quote brief passages. Cover art © exactostock-1557 Hampton roads Publishing Company, Inc. Charlottesville, Va 22906 distributed by red wheel/weiser, llc www.redwheelweiser.com Sign up for our newsletter and special offers by going to www.redwheelweiser.com/newsletter/. ISBn: 978-1-57174-734-1 library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available on request Printed in the United States of america M&g 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 4 7/24/15 12:28 PM For Mom and Dad HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 5 7/24/15 12:28 PM HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 6 7/24/15 12:28 PM Contents Introduction xiii 1. goat Foot Boys get gear 1 2. Immortal Youth 9 3. Into a dangerous Foreign land 15 4. In the Morning 21 5. lower weeping wall 25 6. Just a day Climb 33 7. alone and Cold 37 8. galaxies for light 43 9. First rappel 49 10. one way Up 55 11. Seen 63 12. a Beautiful Place to die 69 13. Irresistible Pull 75 14. the Voice 79 15. My Hell 85 16. god Is love 91 17. life’s a wink and Heaven Is Beauty 95 HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 7 7/24/15 12:28 PM 18. alien in My Body 99 19. warden’s worry 105 20. Bad ride and Jail 111 21. wrecked 117 22. Beggars 125 23. not My Body 133 24. Stammering to Bozeman 139 25. Kind Cowboy 145 26. good-Bye, tim and the theater 151 27. travels in the Small outside and Vast Inside 159 28. the Sinner and the dream 163 29. Hitching east 167 30. ZooMass 173 31. today 177 32. Being Here and going there 187 acknowledgments 195 viii Heaven Is Beautiful HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 8 7/24/15 12:28 PM We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. —Pierre teilhard de Chardin HeavenIsBeautiful_final.indd 11 7/24/15 12:28 PM
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