Blinded (and Saved) by the Light

On GaimTV.com, George Noory’s Beyond Belief interview with Dannion Brinkley, Alive in the Light, is a lively affair, peppered with charm, guffaws of laughter, and profound epiphanies. Brinkley, a southern good ole boy, lays on the aw shucks charm. He says he was an unrepentant sinner before he “died”–but then his trifecta of near-death experiences (NDE) turned his life around.  As Brinkley tells it, his first NDE he was struck by lightning. For 28 minutes he was officially declared dead.  What happened in that near-death state, and his several subsequent collisions with death, was an overwhelming taste of love, light, and forgiveness. For Brinkley, these experiences were so rich and transformative that he dedicated his life to sharing their import. Here is the gist of his travels to the sweet hereafter: There is no such thing as death—the soul is always vibrant and alive.

Brinkley’s close encounters with death served as unforgettable reminders not to squander the life we have. Death is a celebration, a vivid glimpse of our amazing magnificence. But it’s hard to shake the Grim Reaper’s dour reputation.  Hence his mission—to spread the word that death is not something to be feared but to be embraced, especially after a life well lived. And he lives by his word. In 1997, Brinkley co-founded The Twilight Brigade, Compassion in Action in Los Angeles with a small team of experienced hospice volunteers and trainers. Since then, more than 5,300 have taken the volunteer training. His vision is to grow the organization to be active in every VA hospice unit in the country so that “truly no veteran at the end of their life will be alone.”