SPACIOUS REFLECTION: We create an environment in which students can think deeply about questions of the good life and begin to discern their own calling: “...the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” in the words of Frederick Buechner. Students can take steps toward clarifying their vision of the good life and build a sense of meaning & purpose. 

NATURE IMMERSION: We encourage students to connect to nature as a source of grounding, contemplation, insight and joy. Students live on campus here in the coastal woodlands of Maine. They learn to identify trees and plants, hike the preserves, and camp on the Maine Island Trail. Students slow down, sync up with nature and come to recognize their reciprocity with the earth.  

INSPIRED ACADEMICS: Our programs are saturated with ideas to live by. We create a retreat-like setting, alive with creative thinking, good books and lively discussion. Our professors guide students through reflective exercises, facilitated conversations and immersive experiences in a non-ideological, non-dogmatic way. All courses at Seguinland Institute bear college credit through our affiliation with the University of Southern Maine. For students seeking a full semester of college credits (15), we offer additional independent studies. Please inquire. For students in the midst of college applications, we offer guidance and support. We are very often able to write letters of recommendation.

MINDFULNESS: We try to create a context in which students can cultivate the inner resources necessary for personal and community-oriented thriving. This includes daily mindfulness practice: the development of skills for calming and focusing the mind, knitting together fractured attention spans, and learning to sit with mystery. 

CREATIVE ARTS: Creativity is the lifeblood of human thriving–for individuals and communities. Too many believe that creativity is the domain of the select few, “the artists”. We create space for all students to explore and expand their innate capacities for creative expression.  

BACK TO THE LAND: Our campus is on the site of an old family homestead. In this spirit, we grow some of our own food and try “to live sanely and simply in a troubled world,” to quote Helen & Scott Nearing. We encourage students to grapple with the interconnections between the good life and the food life, as so many pressing issues of our time are food-related: climate change, health, inequality.

THE GOOD LIFE FOR ALL: Questions of the good life for one are inseparable from questions of the good life for all. We encourage our students to recognize that their own well-being is tied up with that of everyone else’s. We seek to instill in our students the skills to build strong and inclusive communities in the 21st Century.

Prof. Philip Francis, PhD

What counts as a good life? How do I go about living that good life? What will I do with my one wild and precious life? This course explores these questions by integrating readings and conversations with hands-on experiences in nature and adventures in homesteading. For example, students may read Henry David Thoreau’s In the Maine Woods while following the footsteps of his 1846 journey through Maine. Students may read Robin Wall Kimmer’s Braiding Sweetgrass while learning about sustainable sweetgrass harvesting from Wabanaki basketmakers. Students may read the Nearing’s Living the Good Life while learning the homesteading skills they imparted to generations of back to the landers. Throughout the course students are guided through a process of articulating their values & visions of the good life while reading the best of American nature writing.

The Good Life For All is a seminar grounded in the contemporary moment. Through the lens of storytelling, poetry, and immersive experience the course explores the most pressing and hopeful developments of our time, with an emphasis on creative solutions to climate change. What is the role of storytelling in shaping a cultural landscape in which the good life—in its many forms—is available to all? How can narratives of hope (not mere optimism) fortify us to address climate change without losing our sense of gratitude and joy over the long haul? We’ll explore diverse readings dedicated to cultivating a sense of wonder, reckoning with collective history, and exploring a multi-perspective approach to environmental issues. Along the way, we’ll develop our skills as natural observers, empathetic listeners, authentic communicators, and builders of climate resilient communities.

Prof. Marsha Dunn, MSW

Creativity is the life blood of human thriving— both individuals and communities. And yet, our society often falls prey to the idea that creativity is the domain of a select few. This course offers space for all participants—not just those who consider themselves “artists”—to explore, discover and expand their innate capacities for creative expression. Our focus throughout will be on process, play, and reflection rather than polished output. We will seek to understand how creative processes can give rise to new ways of thinking and listening; and we will harness their power to re-imagine ourselves and re-create the world we share. Our time on-site in Maine will be structured around hands-on workshops and discussions followed by studio time. We will encourage an experimental mindset by working in multiple mediums, from nature-based installations and printmaking to visual thought and sound composition. Multi-media “journaling” will provide space to weave connections between creativity and its role in your Good Life.