At Heavens Door, William J. Peters
At Heavens Door, William J. Peters
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At Heaven's Door
What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach About Dying Well and Living Better

Author: William J. Peters

Narrator: William J. Peters

Unabridged: 8 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/18/2022


Synopsis

A “brilliant and fascinating” (Eben Alexander, MD, author of Proof of Heaven) exploration—rich with powerful personal stories and convincing research—of the many ways the living can and do accompany the dying on their journey into the afterlife.

In 2000, end-of-life therapist William Peters was volunteering at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco when he had an extraordinary experience as he was reading aloud to a patient: he suddenly felt himself floating midair, completely out of his body. The patient, who was also aloft, looked at him and smiled. The next moment, Peters felt himself return to his body…but his patient never regained consciousness and died.

Perplexed and stunned by what had happened, Peters began searching for other people who’d shared similar experiences. He would spend the next twenty years gathering and meticulously categorizing their stories to identify key patterns and features of what is now known as the “shared crossing” experience. The similarities, which cut across continents and cultures and include awe-inspiring visual and sensory effects, and powerful emotional aftershocks.

The book is filled with “moving and tender” (Jack Kornfield, PhD, author of A Path with Heart) tales of spouses seeing their loved ones reach the other side after decades together and bereaved parents who share their children’s entry into the afterlife. Applying rigorous research, Peters digs into the effects of these shared crossing experiences impart—liberation at the sight of a loved one finding joy, a sense of reconciliation if the relationship was fraught—and explores questions like: What can explain these shared death experiences? How can we increase our likelihood of having one? What do these experiences tell us about what lies beyond? And, most importantly, how can they help take away the string of death and better prepare us for our own final moments? How can we have both a better life and a better death?

About William J. Peters

William Peters is the founder of the Shared Crossing Project and director of its Research Initiative. Recognized as a global leader in the field of shared death studies, he has spent decades studying end-of-life experiences. Previously, Peters worked as a hospice volunteer with the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and as a teacher and social worker in Central and South America. A practicing grief and bereavement therapist, he holds degrees from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and UC Berkeley. His work on end-of-life is informed by his therapeutic work with individuals and families, personal experiences with death and dying across cultures, and his family’s own end-of-life journeys.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alison

I won this book in a giveaway, but was hesitant to begin reading it. The genre is not my typical style of novel (fiction), plus I am still grieving the loss of my father less than a year ago. My mother died rather suddenly 9 years ago, and I did not experience anything like the “Shared Death Experie......more

Goodreads review by Cheryl

I found this book to be a very enlightening and intriguing read. I don't discount the fact that people have experienced Shared Death Experiences aka SDE. In fact, I think I too have had one before when I was very young but can't recall it. Reading the various stories and SDEs that were featured in t......more

Goodreads review by Susie

In addition to reading this much appreciated copy from the publisher, I have already ordered and talked about this book to many! We all are here for a finite amount of time and we can not micro manage what happens when we pass and who and how those moments are shared with. It’s a sacred and profound......more

Goodreads review by Stacie

Many of us have heard about moments where someone “just knew” that a person they loved had died. They had a “feeling” or they felt something shift in their bodies. In my work in Hospice in the late 1990s, I also heard of numerous “death experiences” from patients and their families. The author Willi......more