The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Jenkins, Jedidiah. To Shake the Sleeping Self. Convergent Books, 2018.

To Shake the Sleeping Self is a memoir by Jedidiah Jenkins. Jenkins was born in the early 1980s in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised by two devoutly Christian parents in an Evangelical Christian community. When Jenkins was still a child, he realized that he was homosexual. He felt shame and fear, as his community believed homosexuality to be unnatural and sinful. Jenkins tried to repress his sexuality. Jenkins’ parents—Peter and Barbara—gained national attention in the late 1970s by traveling across the width of the United States entirely on foot. Peter and Barbara then married and had children. However, they eventually divorced after it was revealed that peter was having extramarital affairs. Jenkins mostly has a good relationship with his parents, although his mother still disapproves of his homosexuality.

Jenkins attended college at the University of Southern California and then attended law school. He soon began working as a lawyer, but he found that the work was not very fulfilling for him. In his late 20s, he made a plan to quit his job and go on a 16-month bicycle trip from Oregon to Chile. He was inspired in part by his parents’ walk across the country. Jenkins believed that the trip could help him gain a new sense of purpose, fulfillment, and self-knowledge. Jenkins invited along a friend named Weston to be his traveling companion. He chose Weston because Weston was very adventurous by nature.

They began their journey in August of 2013. Jenkins was 30 years old at the time. He had mostly accepted his sexuality. However, he was still devoutly Christian due to his upbringing, and he had decided to remain celibate. He did not do much physical training in preparation for the trip, but he did acquire gear and supplies. Meanwhile, Weston decided to prepare as little as possible and to bring as few items as possible in order to prove that he could complete the trip regardless. As Jenkins and Weston rode south through Oregon and California, they gained a large online following. They then entered Mexico. They appreciated the country’s natural beauty, its rich culture, and the hospitality of its citizens. At one point, they passed through a city controlled by a drug cartel, but they encountered minimal difficulties.

They eventually reached South America. One day, Weston expressed a desire to debate Jenkins on the subject of religion. The debate significantly unsettled Jenkins and compelled him to begin reevaluating his Christian beliefs. At about the time that they reached Peru, Weston decided to quit the journey, leaving Jenkins to finish it alone. During Jenkins time in Peru, he researched the history of the Spanish conquistadors’ genocide of the Incas. Jenkins was unsettled to learn that the conquistadors used Christianity to justify these atrocities. Weston was also unsettled by news stories such as the Ferguson riots, which helped to make him more aware of racial oppression in the United States. Jenkins eventually completed the journey. In the following years, he relinquished unhealthy elements of his previous religious beliefs, he more fully accepted his sexuality, and he even began participating in romantic relationships.