Our 2025 Programs
What we offer
We are running four seven-day programs in Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2025. We will provide up to five individuals with the opportunity to spend seven days in residence to learn, think, read, and write, by themselves and in community, unencumbered by the distractions and pressures of daily life.
Who can apply
Adults, 22 and over, from any and all academic backgrounds.
Prospective participants will not be required to specify a tangible goal or project in order to apply. Admission will be based exclusively on the unique qualities and experiences that applicants can bring to the community.
What we provide
We will provide local transport (from and to Hudson, NY train station), room and board, and all learning activities free of charge. This is, in Matthew’s words, “to create an even playing field and to instill in participants a sense that the experience is a gift that it is their responsibility not to squander”.
What is expected of the participants
Participants are required to maintain a sincere commitment to living the life of the mind, taking responsibility for active participation in their own learning and that of their peers. They will also be required to engage in 2 hours of labor per day and to take part in all communal meals and activities.
What we will do differently
The Matthew Strother Center is a “low technology environment” (see FAQs to learn more about what this means). We will be a refuge from the worlds of commerce and social media, to encourage presence and a deeper connection to the immediate environment, our lives, and the planet.
What we will read
By taking part in our programs, participants do not choose a subject to study, but rather an activity—learning for its own sake. We will engage with books of richness, depth, and lasting value, from both philosophical and literary traditions. Our inaugural programs read The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, On the Nature of Things by Lucretius, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.
How will we read
We will engage in deep reading practices. We believe this to be a unique and valuable kind of soul-work, an attentional practice that not only forces you to exercise your intellect, but also unlocks the transformative power of a text.
Each of the programs will have a faculty member to lead daily seminars. All participants will be required to lead the seminar discussion for at least one session out of the seven.
A day in The Examined Life
A typical day at the Matthew Strother Center for the Examined Life will involve:
- One hour of solitary time to read and write every morning;
- A daily three-hour seminar with a faculty member (seven days a week);
- One to two hours of manual work focused on the Center’s upkeep, maintenance, and food production (seven days a week);
- At least two hours of free time to read, study, dance, hike, reflect and contemplate, alone or in community;
- Three communal meals.
“I must build a system of my own or be enslaved by another man’s.”
— William Blake