How To Die: Destruction, Beauty & A Mind Coming Undone - Stephen Jenkinson

Stephen Jenkinson, creator of the Orphan Wisdom School and grief literacy advocate, explains what it's like to turn a lifetime of teaching about death toward his own Parkinson's diagnosis, and what he's found there that has broken open, humbled, and moved him. Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW, has taught internationally and is the creator of the Orphan Wisdom School, co-founded with his wife Nathalie Roy in 2010. The School convened semi-annually in Ontario, and in the Gulf Islands, Canada and in Wales and Iceland. He has Master’s degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work). Apprenticed to a master storyteller when a young man, he worked extensively with dying people and their families, is former programme director in a major Canadian hospital, and former assistant professor in a prominent Canadian medical school. He is also a sculptor and traditional canoe builder whose house won a Governor General’s Award for architecture. Since co-founding the Nights of Grief and Mystery with singer/songwriter Gregory Hoskins in 2015, he has toured this musical/ tent show revival/ storytelling/ ceremony of a show across North America, U.K. and Europe, Australia and New Zealand. He is the author of Trembling, Still: The Awful Clarity of a Mind in Eclipse (2026) and numerous other books (for a full list of his books & music see the show notes linked below). Stephen Jenkinson is also the subject of the feature length documentary film Griefwalker (2008, dir. Tim Wilson), a portrait of his work with dying people. Lost Nation Road (2019, dir. Ian Mackenzie), and Murmurings of the Land (2025, dir. Mattias Olsson). In this episode, Lian and Stephen talk about what it's like to have spent decades helping other people meet their dying, and then have to meet your own diagnosis. That question runs under everything they cover, from the childhood illness he now recognises as an early imprint, to the raku cup he broke and had mended with gold (Photo in show notes, link below). They get into the word anesthetic, and how splitting it open changed how he understood addiction and beauty both, why he pushes back on the word joy, and what it means to recognise an ending while you're still inside it, rather than only afterwards, once it's already gone. Listen if dying feels like something that will just happen to you one day, and perhaps something you'd rather not think or talk about, than something you're consciously living into. We’d love to know what YOU think about this week’s show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment wherever you are listening or in any of our other spaces to engage. What you’ll learn from this episode: What a man who spent years teaching about loss, learned from taking out his most beautiful possession locked away, untouched, for a decade Why gratitude isn't the reward for hard times passing, it's what can arise when you refuse to forget they happened at all Why knowing your own death is inevitable does almost nothing, and what it takes to stay inside that knowledge day to day Resources and stuff that we spoke about: Visit Stephen’s website https://orphanwisdom.com/ Stephen’s new book Tembling, Still https://orphanwisdom.com/trembling-still/ Join UNIO, The Fellowship for Wild Sovereign Souls https://www.unioacademy.com/: This is for the old souls in this new world… Discover your kin & unite with your soul’s calling to truly live your myth. Wild Sovereign Soul  Join our mailing list: https://www.wildsovereignsoul.com/moonly  UNIO: The Fellowship for Wild Sovereign Souls : https://www.wildsovereignsoul.com/unio Go Deeper: https://www.wildsovereignsoul.com/godeeper  Follow us on:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1694264587546957 Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/wildsovereignsoul YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WildSovereignSoul Thank you for listening! There's a fresh episode released each week here and on most podcast platforms - and video too on YouTube. If you subscribe then you'll get each new episode delivered to your device every week automagically. (that way you'll never miss a show).