DIE WISE: Making Meaning at the End of Days with Stephen Jenkinson
Full day workshop: Saturday, Dec 12: 9:00-4:00pm, with catered organic lunch provided
Venue: Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 95 East Street, Pittsboro, 27312
“If you love somebody, if you care about the world that’s to come after you, and if you want somebody to be spared the lunacy of what you’ve seen – you’ve got to die wise.”
~Stephen Jenkinson
Die Wise – A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, is Stephen Jenkinson’s new book about grief, and dying, and the great love of life.
In a culture without much real ceremony, that doesn’t tolerate endings of any kind, it’s a necessary and proper thing that all of us learn about dying and about death. We must learn how to care for the dying people in our midst, and how to die when it is our turn, well before the time of being tested and told comes. This teaching is for people who will die, who are dying, and who love or care for those who will die. It is for those who wish to live deeply and to die well. It teaches the dying time as a place to learn our humanity and the noble, courageous skills of village-making for those we will not live to meet. Chief among these are the willingness to remember sorrow, to start with cultural poverty, to grieve together, and to gather the dead into your village.
Jenkinson teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Not a seven step coping strategy, not an out-clause for trauma or sorrow, Die Wise is for everyone who, hell or high water, is not going to pull off eternity after all.
Many among us now are crazy for meanings, and crazed by seeking them out. Our work is to sort out what being human should be in such a confusing time. Dying is not the end of wisdom and wisdom is not exhausted by dying. Our work is to sort out what being sane should be in such a time.
This is a teaching for everyone who will fail to live forever. Dying could be and must be the fullest expression and incarnation of what you’ve learned by living. It’s a moral obligation to die well. If you love somebody, if you care about the world that’s to come after you, if you want somebody to be spared the lunacy of what you’ve seen, you’ve got to die wise.
*Refunds can be issued until December 1. After Dec 1, we cannot issue refunds.
Thank you for your understanding.
Consider attending the evening GRIEFWALKER film screening & Q&A Discussion
on Friday, December 11th, 7-9:30 PM.
HUGE GRATITUDE to THE FENWICK FOUNDATION
for generous support in making this event possible!
About Stephen Jenkinson:
Stephen Jenkinson is redefining what it means to live, and die well. He is a storyteller, spiritual activist and author who teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, founded in 2010. With Master’s degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work), he is revolutionizing grief and dying in North America. Apprenticed to a master storyteller, he has worked extensively with dying people and their families, is former programme director in a major Canadian hospital, former assistant professor in a prominent Canadian medical school, consultant to palliative care and hospice organizations, and educator and advocate in the helping professions. He is also a sculptor and traditional canoe builder whose house won a Governor General’s Award for architecture.
He is the author of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul (2015), Homecoming: The Haiku Sessions – a live recorded teaching (2013), How it All Could Be: A work book for dying people and those who love them (2009), Angel and Executioner: Grief and the Love of Life – a live recorded teaching (2009), and Money and The Soul’s Desires: A Meditation (2002), and former contributing author to Palliative Care – Core Skills and Clinical Competencies (2007).
