I speak with Stephen Jenkinson, founder and lead instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School and the author of numerous books, including Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, and most recently, Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. 

In this interview, we discuss how the dominant culture of North America, as Stephen frames it, is awash in aged people, but bereft of elders in the truest sense of the word. Stephen “argues that elderhood is a function rather than an identity—it is not a position earned simply by the number of years on the planet or the title ‘parent’ or ‘grandparent.’” Why is it that the dominant culture of North America has been unable to produce the conditions necessary for elderhood to flourish, especially in this time of trouble we find ourselves in? Stephen discusses what the historical and cultural conditions have been that has led to this unexplored and unexamined crisis, and points to what elderhood in our time of great crisis—ecological, spiritual, political, and otherwise—would possibly look like, framing it within the profound realization that elderhood can only flourish when the appetite exists for it.

// Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/stephen-jenkinson

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