By Ethan Maurice | December 9, 2021

One of the greatest gifts of writing online about things that matter to you (that rank in Google searches) is that others interested in those things find you.

Sometimes they send you heartfelt notes out of the blue that make your day. Other times, you get to meet them and go on hikes or hang out in view of city skylines as you mutually discover deep connection and conversational depth that lifts your spirit for weeks. The best of times — if you can work up the courage to do something like invite a bunch of them to hang at a cabin in the middle of the desert — you can pull together a collective of individuals with resonance unlike you've ever experienced and find yourself amid the most fun, fruitful idea/experience/philosophy swap of your life to date.

This is what happened at WONDER WANDER 2021.

WONDER WANDER 2021 Reviews

“Wonder Wander is a self-growth extravaganza mixed with making amazing friends in a gorgeous place. We laughed, we cried, we stared into each other’s eyes. We gazed at the milky way and danced until the sun came up (almost). Vulnerability led to pretty incredible breakthroughs with basically perfect strangers. How to summarize such an event? Pure magic.”

“I am still buzzing with energy thinking about WW21 - two weeks later! I keep telling people this was one of the best weekends of my life, but then think: “Am I being hyperbolic?” No! WW was such a treat, on so many levels. The people that showed up shared the same virtues and desires I’ve been looking for in the world but haven’t known how to find in others. The conscious work in deep thought exercises was as challenging as it was rewarding, and by the end of the week, I felt more in tune with my purpose of life. WW was truly a breath of fresh air, a respite to the chaotic chatter that is regular life in society. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to recommend WW to everyone.”

“Holy fuck. That was AWESOME.”

“A wonderful and memorable experience with a dozen other worthy souls. A surprisingly enlightening four days that left me craving more intimate and meaningful contact throughout my daily life. Thanks to Ethan for putting together this event and thanks to all of the other attendees for their honesty and openness. Five stars!!”

“WW2021 was an amazing, life-changing event. You experience connection with other people and learn life lessons at an extreme level, all while having an incredibly fun time. Words can’t really explain the grandeur of the experience. You’ll need to check it out yourself!”

What Went Down @ WONDER WANDER 2021?

From November 4th to 8th, 2021, thirteen wonderwanderers (rad readers of this site) rendezvoused at a cabin just outside Kanab, Utah for WONDER WANDER 2021.

As the name implies, WONDER WANDER is about the sense of wonder and wandering among wondrous places. I love and experience both often, but often alone. We get together to collectively share, vibe, and celebrate in an environment electric with wonder and ideal for wandering.

WONDER WANDER 2021, however, had a new twist: each participant offered some sort of experience, discussion, or lecture. These offerings varied widely and inadvertently made experiential exploration the greatest wandering act of the entire event.

Offerings from individual wonderwanderers included:

Pre & post event journaling exercises
Deep stretching & an acroyoga intro
Group-centric observational direct-eye gazing
Mathematics based truth vs. proof discussion
Spontaneously performed murder mystery play
Meditation discussion and practice
Don Miguel Ruiz and Georgia O’Keefe based discussion of happiness and limiting beliefs
The Oliver Adams Future Planning Exercise
Collaboratively conceptualized WONDER WANDER art swag
“Warm Fuzzy” note writing to each participant
Contemplating the cosmos presentation
Tea ceremony atop a sand dune at sunset
Final night epic basement rave

Our physical wandering was also wondrous. We broke off into smaller groups each day roam about places like: Paria Canyon, Buckskin Gulch, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, the Page Lake Powell Balloon Regatta, Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park, and a handful of spots local to Kanab.

Some of my favorite wander moments included:

The tribal-hunt feel of running in a group a dozen miles into the wet depths of a surreal slot canyon.
A spur of the moment Yesman induced U-turn to plunge into a freezing, November, high-elevation stream after a long jaunt through Bryce Canyon.
Goofing off with the group on a huge sand dune at sunset, and one particular line of careless, endless summersaults.

Why WONDER WANDER 2021 Was So Totally Transcendent

I’ve been long interested in experiments of intentional community. The roots of this interest lie in ideas from books: the chautauqua of Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Junto I read about in Ben Franklin’s biography, and these philosophy discussion groups of Bombay mafia members in Shantaram.

These books inspired attempts at in-person discussion groups, online writing groups, and my magnum opus, a dream that scares my introverted self and bathes me in utter surrealness to experience in reality: the WONDER WANDER.

The art of intentional community lies in developing a simple, flexible-yet-firm structure with the intent to catalyze and create space for each participant to share their gifts. The goal is to create the perfect potluck — each individual contributes a dish and samples all the others.

In intentional community, leadership is about setting, intention, and holding that flexible-yet-firm structure. By doing the vetting beforehand (with an application process for the gathering), I simply trusted others to bring great dishes.

The setting of WONDER WANDER 2021 was legendary: a magnificent huge cabin on the outskirts of Kanab, Utah smack in the middle of red rock country and oodles of National Parks. With three individual bedrooms and a glorious bunkroom with ten beds, a large carpeted basement for activities, and a kitchen with a table big enough for thirteen people to squeeze together during meals it was ideal.

The real art of gathering seems to lie in mood, intention, and feel.

Perhaps two weeks before WW2021, I penned a simple, powerful realization that I returned my awareness to over and over again throughout the event. Returning to this realization dissipated fear and helped me be from the right place. As an example, it seemed to radiate throughout the gathering:

*I use “love” not in a romantic sense, but in a sense of oneness. I was attempting to live through the lens of the intrinsic connectedness of everyone and all things.

Intentions for the group, which I wrote out and read the first night of the gathering included:

No phone use inside the house. “Cell phones are the new smoking — if you need a smoke, that’s totally fine, just take it outside.”
Encouraging a culture of High Fives. “Please everyone, turn and give a strong High Five to a few of your neighbors around the table. There will be no such thing as an excessive amount of High Fives during this event.”
- A few weeks beforehand, I was listening to a podcast that explained how a High Five is a symbol powerfully charged with innumerable positive experiences for just about everyone — yes — even more powerful than they are cheesy and 1990’s feeling.
Inviting everyone to be differently. “I believe there is a basic, fundamental reality and that humans are special because we can weave a whole other reality that we consciously inhabit on top of it. I think the art of this experimental sort of communal gathering is to both appreciate this fundamental reality and to weave our own, unique little subculture out here atop it. Approached with intention, we can have a tremendously cool time in this space and time all our own. I invite you to recognize this and to weave this secondary realty with me.”

A photograph I feel particularly captures the vibe mid-delivery of the above intentions.

We also went over a small, deliberate set of values that first night:

Open trusting space. “This requires support and kindness toward others, which allows them to open up and share. In short: don’t be a dick!”
Full send. “In order to trust here, we have to get to know each other quickly. Please join me in the effort to open up to your fellow wonderwanderers. Ask deeper questions of each other, and again, lots of High Fives.”
Far and deep. “Let us cast our awareness father outwards and inwards than we’re used to. We can get so focused on what we’re bringing to the table in a swap-style gathering like this. Do your best to give your awareness to what is before you. “Be here now” in the words of Ram Dass. This is easier said than done.”
Honor this place. “We are among one of the most surreal, beautiful, otherworldly places on our planet. We are all tremendously fortunate to be here. Let us honor this place, let us drink it in deep. Love it, it will love you back.”

WONDER WANDER 2021: A Highlight Reel

By: Pete Graf

WONDER WANDER Swag

After polling the group for ideas, prolific Hawaii-based artist and two-time wonderwanderer Siena Baldi created a slew of wondrously trippy WONDER WANDER swag designs for the group.

Our experiences are deeply woven into her art: the tea kettle pouring a river of stars, the abstract spiraling galaxy, the cacti giving way to slot-like mazes are all symbols charged with the powerful meanings of peak experiences.