You Begin in the Light
“You begin in the light, but you’re gonna end in wisdom, that is if the god’s prevail, otherwise, light.”
This is where we find ourselves. On the precipice of the calamitous act of learning. “Justice is making a life in the teeth of the storm of the things you had no choice about.” —Stephen Jenkinson
Stephen Jenkinson and Orphan Wisdom School are an on-going source of inspiration for my life’s work because he gives voice to something I resonate deeply with in my bones. I’ve never been satisfied with the status quo of my culture of North Americans. Perhaps this dissatisfaction stems from being raised a free thinker. I was homeschooled until fifth grade and never talked down to as a child. After entering public school the way adults talked to kids never sat well with me and I never really took the bait of “sitting still for gold stars,” if you will.
Driven by a hunger for Life I have traveled the world with learning as my ally. I still get caught in the “shoulda, woulda, couldas” of the overculture of North America, and yet Stephen’s work is giving me permission to find my own way of wondering out loud about the meaningful aspects of life such as Art, Birth, Death, Transitions, Rites of Passage, Growing Up, and Living Within My Means.
My father, Matthew, first read this article, As We Lay Dying: Stephen Jenkinson On How We Deny Our Mortality, by Erik Hoffner in The Sun Magazine in 2015 when it was first published. (If you don’t already subscribe to this magazine, it’s really worth it. It’s a reader-supported magazine without advertising—and great writing.)
My father then invited Mr. Jenkinson to Prescott, Arizona two years in a row (2018 and 2019) for a series of talks centered around his books, Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul and Come of Age: A Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. After attending those experiences with Stephen, my life was forever altered. How, I can’t quite put my finger on, yet to this day I’m left with my brain not being able to “go along with” the dominant culture of North America. I continue to question everything, yet this time I feel my impetus for asking comes from a place of, as Stephen puts it, “More wondering and less opinionating.”
I continue to revisit and reread Stephen’s work because as I grow up his writing hits me in different places in my life and in my understanding of the way things are. As my understanding broadens and what I know for certain diminishes, I have a greater and greater appreciations for who Stephen is as a human and his courage to give voice to what’s so.
One thing Stephen Jenkinson does really well is educate. He leads me out of my habits of thinking and has me wandering into places I never knew I needed to go and wondering about things I never thought I should care about. My life is altered. I can’t go back to living the way I used to live. I wish for you a similar result of learning to listen.
Stephen has done many interviews over the years since I first heard about him in 2015, and I have listened to all of them, yes, all of them. It’s my experience being both on the firing end and the receiving end of interviews, learning the art of asking questions matters. Therefore I’m only including my most favorite interviews with Stephen Jenkinson to date here.
Enjoy and prepare to be wrecked (in the best sense of the word)!
Omega Male, Episode 4 hosteb by Dan Mackenzie: an interview with Stephen Jenkinson, April 6, 2022.
Stephen’s interview with Kimberly Ann Johnson Part One and Part Two, September 23, 2021, which sparked their friendship and let them to co-author a book, Reckoning.
The End of Tourism Podcast, Part One: “Trauma Intelligence, The Stranger, and Radical Hospitality,” October 11, 2021 and Part Two: “Immigration and Cultural Homelessness,” September 25, 2021. This is what my husband Jesse and I listened to after we packed up our home, put everything in storage and hit the road for what would turn into a year-long roadtrip. It was the opposite of a vacation.
Come learn with me, Yoga is Love in Action:
Yoga Immersion happening in Prescott, Arizona: May 25-28, 2023.
On-going yoga classes are a great way to plug in when you can. There’s still a few spots open for on-going yoga classes.
If you’re really interested in the deep dive of learning beyond yoga asana, check out the Sunday Study Group: Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra Study Group. I won’t speak for everyone, but I’m having a lot of fun every week sharing and unpacking the Yoga Sūtra as I’ve learned them from my teachers. Great questions, great tools for living, and chai!
Thanks for reminding me about Stephen's work and curating the podcast list Shinay. “Justice is making a life in the teeth of the storm of the things you had no choice about.” —Stephen Jenkinson. Some people are found of saying that nothing is original, but if anybody comes close, it's this guy.