Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul

Found the book quite long, at times abit too wordy. Also found myself writing short remarks here and there. I do respect, and appreciate the depth and life's wisdom shared with the reader. Sort a book that one can be alone with, churning the thoughts admist the shadow memories, far and near. A well thought out page, slow turner, bringing us back to the notes we left in spaces, left to return to, many times. Subject is timeless, it is our lives....

Read this book. I was so moved by the first paragraph of the first chapter. I am stunned by the beauty of the writing and the depth of importance and meaning. We live in a plastic, shallow world- we are not prepared to die, let alone think or talk about it. This book has given me a sense of wholeness and has quelled much of my own fear of death- which includes the deaths of those I love. I cannot describe how important this book could be for those of us that are going to die ;) or are dealing with the death or imminent death of a loved one. Do your future self a favor and read this book today.

Jenkinson is a poetic writer. To simply want to read his book in order to "get to the good stuff" or to say that "this book could be condensed to one chapter" is completely missing the point of everything. The irony is that he even addresses this modern Western desire for instant gratification and desire for complete instant knowledge. This is a book that I truly believe could better your life -- allow for introspection. As a hospice volunteer and Death Doula, I learned things from this book that I had NEVER heard in all my studies or experiences. And it makes sense. It all makes so much sense. This is a book I'll be reading again, and probably again after that, etc. This is one you'll be able to study and take notes on. So give it a chance. It took me the first 1/4 to 1/2 of the book to get used to the way he writes (he talks like this too if you've ever watched his interviews or watched the documentary about him, "Griefwalker"). You'll get the hang of it and it'll make you want to take your time to digest every word and sentence.

This book offers a real, road-tested and sacred - that is to say "real" - way of questioning, feeling, thinking about and apprenticing oneself and one's culture to Death, and therefore, also to Life. Here may be the most grounded book on Death and Dying that we have, based as it is in such lengthy and reflective actual experience with folks who have died. Poetic, soulful, and guiding, in a profoundly respectful and reflective fashion, "Die Wise" provides a view into dying, and a way of grieving by doing that most folks don't seem to know of or talk about, yet which we could each come to be close with and appreciate, and which actually seems to be part of the fabric of life and death that surrounds us every day and each night here in "the West". In reading the pages of this heartful, soul-stirring and meaningful manifesto, I find myself witnessing a possibility for befriending a host of realities that seem to have been hidden from myself and my people for most of our lives. I was thunderstruck, while listening to Stephen's stories, to realize that although I'm 44 years old, I've only witnessed one person dying and have never been present for a birth. How alive can I be under those circumstances and how can I know about how to proceed with such limited fuel and basis for existence, and what can my culture really know if it acts the way it does?! Also, how unusual are my personal circumstances - is my own experience possibly the "norm"?The experience of receiving this awesome offering is a finding and a making of dark yet vibrant nourishment and realizing for the first time how hungry and how thirsty I have truly been, without fully grasping that until now. Worthy food and drink are offered up here, to be sure, in these mighty and very human, finely wrought pages. I hold these words with me as I seek to feed myself and my family, friends and colleagues, and to be fed by the unexpected yet ever-present heart-breaks that seem to peek or cry out around each corner. The seeds in my heart, as well as in my garden are listening and are thankful. May the new sprouts ever recall the old ones - Many Thanks to You Stephen for this Mentorship in the vital written craft of langauge!!!

This manifesto is compelling, engaging and the real deal. Stephen's work is well known across the continent and I am so very grateful to begin working with the concepts he presents with my Aging Women's group. I read it on Kindle and then realized I needed to have a hard copy to write notes, make comments, tag pages of particular interest. Not always an easy read and sometimes he wanders a bit philosophically, but all in all, a tremendous body of work.

Everyone pondering death or not pondering death, everyone should read this book. It cuts through euphemism and promises of hereafter to really examine what we do to ourselves by not acknowledging death, not acknowledging ending...There is a clarity and beauty here that can enlighten a dark corner that may be hard to face.

This book presents deep insights into America's cultural views of dying. Extremely edifying.

Reading this book was hard and unexpected. It was the most thought-provoking book I can remember reading. It's changed me and will change me more as I read pieces of it over and over again. The layers of wisdom are deep and loaded with love and pain. Stephen Jenkinson unveils the wisdom within us and helps us remember what we once knew. I owe him and I can only pay forward.

This is one of those books that come your way accidentally and change your life, more precisely your dying. Yes, yes, everybody knows that they are going to die. Everybody knows it could happen in the next heartbeat, or after a period of great suffering, after the diagnosis of a terminal disease. Everybody knows it's possible that those you love, even children, could die unexpectedly. But there is knowing and knowing.Stephen Jenkinson is a very unusual man who works in what he calls 'the death trade': one of his jobs is to engage with individuals and families where death is due soon from terminal disease. He also lectures on his work, including to health professionals. He is also a farmer out in the wilds, and a man who is learning the rhythms and wisdom of the indigenous people, mostly dead, and a man who is learning to die. Dying is a human right, he says, and an obligation, an act of the individual that recognises continuity. Human life is but one tiny manifestation of Life, an individual's life tinier still. That Life is born of Death: as everything dies its remains spawn birth. A seed from a dead plant when burst open to die produces new life. And culturally, in a healthy culture, our own deaths are an essential, integral part of the continuum of Life. It is hard for us to die so we must learn to have Grief in our hearts - not when somebody dies or when we are dying, although that too, but now, when we are in the flood of life if we are. Grief and Love Jenkinson sees as inseparable. Living fully involves living each moment with grief, the reality of suffering, love and an overarching wisdom born of deep knowing of Nature.We live, Jenkinson and many others have said, in a death-phobic culture. But this is not universal, it's specific especially to North American and European culture. This culture Jenkinson describes as homeless, unrooted, forever fleeing but never to a secure home. We have no sense of an ancestral tradition stretching behind and beyond. We are orphans. I'd encourage anybody to visit Jenkinson's website orphanwisdom.com and also to watch the documentary about him and his work, 'Griefwalker' (included in amazon Prime membership).Jenkinson spends much time examining medical technology and its associated 'end of life' care. This 'care' involves reducing pain, sedation, possibly treatment for 'depression', and most of all a strong tendency to prolong life long after the body, which knows naturally when to die if not resisted, has had enough. 'More time' is a weapon used against the possibility of dying well, dying in the sense of embracing dying and grief and love.In Western culture most people face their deaths with terror. This is not some psychological ailment. It is a spiritual despair, inevitable consequence in a More culture itself terrified of death, a Disneyland culture of taking from the earth, taking, taking. Each theft makes the spiritual hole larger. When those identities of success, happiness, status, health, youth and its middle-aged facades, competence, when these are seen to be fraudulent chimera leaving only an abyss where a soul should be, no wonder there is terror. That is why to die wise we need to start our dying right now.

The author rightly points out we live in a death phobic culture and so, outside the palliative care, maybe only the brave and curious will read this book. I am glad I was curious enough to overcome my natural reflexive aversion to thinking about dying and very grateful that this book came into my awareness. The author is a skilled story teller and this book is indeed a poignant, thought provoking, at times sombre read, but throughout the book there is prose and poetry in its narrative and every line feels like food for the soul. The space between the lines of what is said and what is left unsaid allows the reader to sense the mystery and perhaps even the mastery of a good death.And what a breath of fresh air not to be told or cajoled or nudged into so called 'self help' advice given by someone who may never themselves have stood on the shore let alone crossed the river. My heart felt recommendation is to buy this book, read it now or keep somewhere safe until reading it feels more timely. Either way, don't leave it too long as its a life affirming book. I also have the audible version and, for me, the author's voice is soothing balm on sore ears. I wish you very good health.

The author suggests that this book is for anyone who will fail to live forever and I agree. It is a difficult book - it presents a perspective on life and death which is not commonly spoken of, or even thought about. For that reason the author, rightly, spends a good many pages walking the reader through the reality of how fearful of death we all our (in this modern, westernised society). So yes, the topic takes some work at understanding - at times I felt like a blind-person being expected to describe the colour red! But it is worth it - the beautiful poetic language, the stories told, the insights given and the nudges towards how a wise death might be possible are deeply meaningful. Do the work of reading this book for yourself and you will not have wasted a single second of your life here on earth - you will have invested in it. Thoroughly recommended.

This book was an absolutely incredible read. Jenkinson calls into question so much of what we take as a given in our culture, and turns our ways of managing, understanding, and approaching death 180 degrees. He is a credible authority on the matter, having worked extensively in the field for decades, which gives his ideas much credence.It is nearly impossible to write a summary of the work, as the ideas require a lot of unfolding in order to be fully offered and understood, but the basic premise is the observation that we currently live in a time that abhors death, and from this follows an inquiry into why this is so, what fuels it, and why it is such a destructive force that desperately needs challenging and changing.I can't remember the last time I read a book that made me think and question so deeply, often needing to go back and read paragraphs again and again to absorb the profundity of the ideas. Speaking as a person who has dabbled in depth in various different spiritual traditions, I can say with certainty that this book offers some of the greatest wisdom and insight into what is meaningful in life, without overtly purporting to do so, that I have ever come across.Please, please, read this book.

A deeply challenging read as all books of this nature need to be. A torch of a book that shines a light of what is required of us to become fully human, to bring meaning to our lives and to hopefully understand why we are here. Only then will we become the true caretakers of this beautiful place we call home. For anybody who really cares about where we are heading this book is essential.