EP 135: Spirit Work, Conspiracies, Elderhood and Grief with Stephen Jenkinson, Part One

In this first of two episodes, Kimberly and Stephen look at what happens when we normalize these uniquely troubled times, as well as how we got here. Together they wonder about grief, parenting, elderhood, me-first culture and conspiracies in times of crisis. Stephen places emphasis on how relationship to history informs our present circumstance and meaning making. What do we gain by normalizing times such as these? Where does health come from? How do we reckon with our me-first world in a time so desperate for community and culture?

What You’ll Hear

--Plague is not an easy thing to normalize, 1919 is the last time

--Spirit work is a response to troubles of the times, not freedom from the troubles of the times

--How wisdom is distinguished from prejudice

--Our spirit work is our response to the world, not our feeling tone about the world

--A puritan about your own fundamentalism

--The last thing a conspiracy theorist does is imagine that their conspiracy is conspiratorial

--Mania of challenging everything rarely gets challenged

--Culture orchestrated around appealing to and buying and selling to 17 year olds- inherited from the 60s

--What do our kids do with what we’ve given to them

--Etymology of the word Fate- from the Latin word from the verb “to speak” What the Gods had said.”

--Now that the Gods have spoken, what shall you do- what are the obligations?

--Origin of the concept of “bucket list”

--Skillfulness or ability to be good, “good” is not a temperature of your character or indwelling possession 

--Where does your health come from?

--What happens if we imagine that the differences between us are problems to solve?

--You are incapable of generating the meaning of your life

--The meaning of your life is assembled when you die, what a village minded person owns their neighbors

--You don’t get to know your legacy, it’s not yours, it’s the consequence of your death

--Your act of dying is your last act of citizenship

--The word “therapeo” to cure, you require a malady

--Preoccupation with self is the principle malady of the times

--What’s the source of the enthronement of the self and social media

--Elderhood as a check-and-balance on the regime of self-absorption

--What will happen if you don’t know how to die?

--Death as a great act of humanity and its fullest incarnation or an insult to humanity

--Willingness to work is a casualty of the “me first” movement

--The moral quandary of having children

--Inclusivity is a blowing apart of the capacity to distinguish, inclusivity shames discernment

--Culture work versus personal work

--Dominant culture of North American founded by flight risks, people on the run, casualties

--"The world" doesn't exist, place does

Resources

Website: www.orphanwisdom.com