This facility says that: "We are committed to the emergence of a new and right
relationship between the natural and social world through the development of
vital communities and the formation of courageous, creative, and competent
leadership on behalf of the whole earth community.
We ground our work in the ongoing
development of a deep and spacious spiritual core and cultivate practices that
inform and sustain learning and hope."
The story of the Whidbey Institute
begins in 1966 when founders Fritz and Vivienne Hull purchased an old Finnish
farmstead on the south end of Whidbey Island--inspired by "the power of the wild
idea." They brought together a small group of people and explored how they could
best respond to their sense of living in a time when profound change was
underway, calling for transformative learning that would serve the formation of
new patterns of life.
In 1972, after considerable
restoration, the homestead and the surrounding land became the home of the
Chinook Learning Community. Over the next twenty-four years, Chinook served as a
retreat, workshop, and conference center and convened core study and major
events in the Seattle region--all anchored in a dedicated, covenant
(non-residential) community. The ground-breaking Earth and Spirit Conference
held in Seattle in 1990 was a national event and a significant milestone in the
evolution of this work.
Recognizing new needs and
especially the scope of the environmental challenge as inspired and informed by
Thomas Berry, in 1993 the Hulls invited a group including both Chinook
colleagues and new collaborators to gather on the island of Iona in Scotland to
envision a new organization: The Whidbey Institute--for Earth, Spirit, and the
Human Future. In the summer of 1995, Chinook was assimilated into the new
Institute.
