The Light After Death

Review of “Secrets of the Light” by Dannion Brinkley and Kathryn Brinkley

I picked up this book when I was perusing a Borders (may it rest in peace) just before it went out of business and everything in the store was on sale. It caught my attention as I wandered through an aisle of spiritual titles, and what drew me more to this book than to any of the others was the idea that this is a true story about a man who was struck by lightning, died, and then came back to tell the story.

I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first, so I did some online digging. It turns out that there are some arguments about exactly who said what with his first other-world experience, and there are some doubts about exactly how much time he was dead and the exact circumstances about when he woke up and where he was and who was there. He’s done a video responding to those who claim he’s a fraud, in which he says that he hopes his actions are speaking loudly enough for him, and he invites everyone to choose to believe whatever seems right to them to believe.

It also turns out that Dannion Brinkley has a website where you can find out what he’s working on now, find out how his various projects are doing, donate to those projects, and buy more of his books. He does personal phone calls and group visits, where he talks to about the afterlife and what’s waiting beyond.

Anyway, internet investigations aside, I felt like the content of the book was well worth a read and a discussion. So, here we go.

The Summary

As I mentioned above, this is the true story of a man named Dannion Brinkley, who died and came back several times. Each time he went to the other side, he had a different spiritual experience, where he received visions and information about things yet to come and what we can do to make the world a better place.

In the first part of the book, Dannion gives all the details of those experiences. The second and third parts of the book are about the things he’s learned and his personal philosophical interpretations of his experiences. Given the way he writes about his interpretations, I don’t think he expects everyone to agree with all of what he says, though he does seem to hope that we’ll think about it.

I discovered, a little unexpectedly, that his descriptions of the afterlife more or less match up with what I think it might be like. Parts Two and Three, deal with the lessons he wants to share rather than the story of how he came to understand them. I found this part especially inspirational.

In Part Two he discusses the Power in Love, the Power in Choice, the Power in Belief, and the Power in Prayer. In Part Three, he offers seven lessons from his spiritual experiences that focus on the recognition and acceptance of our own divine nature.

Discussion Questions

Here is a short list of questions that should apply to any part of the book and will hopefully bring out not only answers and discussion, but also more questions.

1. What do you think of Dannion’s experiences so far? What would you have done if you were in his situation?
2. What do you think of how others are reacting to Dannion? How would you react to him?
3. What do you think about the conclusions Dannion is drawing from his experiences? Do you agree or disagree? What conclusions would you draw?
4. How have Dannion’s spiritual experiences changed him as a person? How would those experiences change you if they happened to you?
5. How have Dannion’s spiritual experiences affected his life? How would they affect your life if they happened to you?
6. What lessons can you take from Dannion’s experiences? How can you apply those lessons to your own life?

If you’re having trouble drawing more of an answer out of someone, you can always use the one-word question “why”. This will usually prompt some kind of elaboration. Also, specific questions help generate specific answers, while general questions will generate general answers. Sometimes specific answers are good, and other times general answers are good. Be conscious of what kind of discussion you want to have with your group.

First published in UC magazine ucmag.org