Wyoming Stoic Camp
Founded in 2014, Wyoming Stoic Camp includes intensive small and large group studies of central Stoic texts such a Epictetus’ Enchiridion and Discourses, and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, talks by invited speakers, early morning and evening hikes, partaking in good food, as well as some unstructured down time. Other outdoor activities participants have the opportunity to engage in include hiking, bonfires, and waking up to the sunrise on the final morning.
Participants come from all over the USA and even from Europe, to take seriously the Stoic goal of “living in agreement with nature.” But we come to see that the nature the Stoics had in mind is much more than the beautiful scenery of the remote Wyoming Rocky Mountains. It includes, centrally, our own natures as human beings. We try to develop this connection between our rational, pro-social selves and the rest of the universe by engaging not only in close readings of some central texts, but also in practices and exercises derived from the ancient texts and inspired by those in Stoic Week.
The camp brings together participants of all ages (from college students to retirees), professions, (from academics to firefighters, and from marketers to actors, and many more!), and locations (from the local mountain west, to both coasts, and everywhere in between). After arriving at the camp, distributing the materials, and settling in, participants gather to begin reading and discussing. For example, we might read from Epictetus’ Enchiridion 1:
Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions – in short, whatever is our own doing, Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing. The things that are up to us are by nature free, unhindered, and unimpeded; the things that are not up to us are weak, enslaved, hindered, not our own. …
When we come together again, we discuss as a group some of what we learned from this exercise. At other times, we gather in small groups to discuss a text, such as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.
One favorite, or not so favorite for some, meditative exercise involves considering the following passage from Marcus:
The Pythagoreans were wont betimes in the morning the first thing they did, to look up unto the heavens, to put themselves in mind of them who constantly and invariably did perform their task: as also to put themselves in mind of orderliness, or good order, and of purity, and of naked simplicity. For no star or planet hath any cover before it. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 11.27)
And then rising before dawn in order to follow the Pythagorean practice, we hike up the ridge for a pretty spectacular view of the sunrise. Some participants balk at the early wake-up, but the payoff is generally worth it.
The goals of Wyoming Stoic Camp are to experiment with living in a thoroughly philosophical way, using the Stoics as models, and to explore what it means to live intentionally, and in accord with Stoic principles. We strive to explore the relation between the theoretical and the practical in an intensive and immersive manner. Participants use the camp to deepen their understanding of Stoicism and explore what it might mean to live in a thoroughly philosophical way, and what the relation between study and life might look like in their own lives. Each participant is encouraged to explore what these ideas might mean for them, in their own situations, and at their own pace.
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