The Ultimate Journey

Description

An inspirational look into the journey we all will ultimately take. This remarkable collection of stories about death and near-death experiences from around the world are, above all, inspiring and life-affirming. Each story reveals the mystical side of travel, as each writer is transformed by a profound life-and-death experience.

Introduction

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE: MYSTERIES

The Bridge — David Yeadon

A Minor Resurrection — Paul William Roberts

Pearyland — Barry Lopez

Tell All the Old People — Melvin Morse, M.D., with Paul Perry

Restless Ghost — Brett Harris

Death and the Chalice of Repose — Therese Schroeder-Sheker

Presences — Sydney Lea

The Survivor — Mark Matousek

Visit to a Parallel Universe — Fred Alan Wolf

What It Means to Be Dead — Jon Carroll

PART TWO: ENCOUNTERS

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea — Richard Sterling

Postcard from Death — Mark Kurlansky

In Friendship — Paul Winston

In the Belly of the Beast — Barbara Kingsolver

You Have Suffered Enough — Elaine Sosa

Dead Man at Grandview Point — Edward Abbey

The Solution — Dale Walker

Hotel Inglés — Luis Sepúlveda

Fiji Time — Joel Simon

Choices and Promises — P. M. H. Atwater, Lh.D.

Being Prey — Val Plumwood

PART THREE: RITUALS

A Death in the Family — Thomas Lynch

More than Just a Box — Janet Milhomme

Famadihana Diary — Seraphine Ramanantsoa

Mondays Are Best — Pico Iyer

Crossing Borders Within and Withou — Sukie Miller, Ph.D., With Suzanne Lipsett

Benares — Mark Matousek

A Party at the Cemetery — Mary Morris

A Grandfather's Farewell — Malidoma Patrice Somé

Last Rites — Mark Gruber, O.S.B.

PART FOUR: SHADOWS

In Normandy — Dirk Bogarde

Taken for a Ride — Ronnie Golden

When It's Your Turn — Tom Stienstra

Why the Dogs of Rwanda Are Overfed — Dorothy Leroux

Blademaster — Eugene Robinson

Reading the Leaves — Peter Holt

PART FIVE: BLESSINGS

Second Sight — Jacques Lusseyran

Lists — Sister Helen P. Mrosla

The Weight of Memory — Fenton Johnson

The Light — Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.

Last Wish — Allegra Taylor

In the Mirror of Death — Sogyal Rinpoche

The Man in the Dream — Diana V. Culbertson, Ph.D.

Sample chapter

About the Author

James O'Reilly has worked as a series editor on over thirty Travelers' Tales titles, winning eight awards for excellence. He writes a syndicated newspaper column with Larry Habbeger, "World Travel Watch," which has appeared since 1985 in major newspapers in five countries. James lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sean O'Reilly has co-edited numerous books in the Travelers' Tales series, including Danger!, Testosterone Planet, The Road Within, France, Paris, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. He lives in Arizona with his family.

Richard Sterling is a Vietnam Veteran with a unique perspective on death. Sterling's books include three titles in the Travelers' Tales series: The Adventure of Food, Food and The Fearless Diner. He is also the author of Dining with Headhunters, The Eclectic Gourmet Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area, and he is co-author of The Unofficial Guide to San Francisco. He lives in Berkeley, California.