On the 135th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I’m delighted to welcome our guest, Stephen Jenkinson. Stephen is a cultural worker, teacher, author, and ceremonialist. He is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, founded in 2010. He has master’s degrees from Harvard University (theology) and the University of Toronto (social work). He’s the author of Come of Age, the award-winning Die Wise, Money and the Soul’s Desires, and Reckoning (with Kimberly Ann Johnson). His latest book, Matrimony: Ritual, Culture and the Heart’s Work, invites readers to contemplate the significance of matrimony, ceremony, and cultural articulation—and how to redeem them for future generations.
In this rich conversation, Stephen explores profound questions about life, love, and the nature of existence. The discussion delves into the essence of ceremonies, particularly in matrimony, emphasising the need for meaningful endings and the responsibilities we hold towards future generations.
The discussion weaves fate, ancestry, humility, and the call to “proceed as if you’re needed” into a meditation on how we might live fully inhabited lives.
For Stephen's latest book, Matrimony:
To buy your copy: https://orphanwisdom.com/store/matrimony/
About the book: https://orphanwisdom.com/books/matrimony/
For more of Stephen's work:
Website: https://orphanwisdom.com/
Contact me at mark@whatisagood.life if you'd like to explore your own lines of self-inquiry through 1-on-1 coaching, my 5-week group courses, or to discuss experiences I create to stimulate greater trust, communication, and connection, amongst your leadership teams.
- For the What is a Good Life? podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/
00:01 – Introduction
01:37 – The Condition of Pondering
06:28 – Roots of Pondering
10:16 – The Dream Another World Has of You
19:36 – Needed vs Important
21:46 – Matrimony and the Presence of the Absence
26:00 – Longing and Belonging
31:00 – Modern wedding and the privatisation of love
35:47 – The Art of the Ending
41:40 – Pompe and the Necessity of Closure
43:47 – Ritual as a Gift to the Village
45:45 – The White Heat of Possibility
51:25 – The Active Witness
53:43 – What Is a Good Life for Stephen?