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HEAVEN
A TRAVELLER’S GUIDE TO THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY PETER STANFORD
To my mother, Mary Catherine Stanford (1921–1998), in the hope that the very best of what follows may now be true for her
and
To my mother-in-law, Emily Celine Cross (1934–2001), who inspired me with her trust in God to believe that it could be.
‘The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns …’
SHAKESPEARE: Hamlet (Act III, Scene 1) CONTENTS
2 Come Back and Finish What You Started
PART TWO And the Soul Goes Marching On
10 If Paradise Was Half as Nice
Ascent of the Prophet Muhammad to Heaven by Aqa Mirak, 16th century.
© British Library/Bridgeman Art Library
Saint Augustine of Hippo. © Mary Evans Picture Library Saint Hildegard. © Mary Evans Picture Library Thomas Aquinas. © Mary Evans Picture Library Chartres Cathedral, West side. © The Bridgeman Art Library Land of Cockaigne by Pieter Brueghel. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. © The Bridgeman Art Library Detail from The Damned by Luca Signorelli. © Scala Dante portrait. © Scala Ascent
