The Whidbey Institute
for Earth, Spirit, and the Human Future is an
inter-religious
organization and a distinctive learning and retreat
center committed to providing diverse educational
offerings that contribute to positive spiritual,
ecological, and cultural transformation. It is
located on Whidbey Island in the Pacific Northwest
bioregion on seventy acres of evergreen forest
and meadow-land known as Chinook, with administrative
offices in the nearby town of Clinton. The Center
features a restored 1900 era farmhouse, the new
Thomas Berry Hall, a meditation sanctuary, labyrinth,
medicine wheel, ropes course, retreat house,
several rustic cabins, and an expansive network
of nature trails. Seeking to bring together individuals
with common concerns and commitments, the Institute
welcomes people of all religious traditions and
spiritual paths to participate in its events
and programs. The Institute has many year-round
programs. Our
Way Forward is a growing community of
people dedicated to the vision of the Earth
Charter who meet on the first Sunday of each
month to foster collaborate efforts and support
creative action strategies throughout the
Northwest. Beginning its sixth year in January
2004, Spirited Work is a dynamic,
co-creative, self-organizing learning community
composed mainly of professionals from the
Northwest and beyond. Using open space technology
and the seasonal archetypes of cultural anthropologist
Angeles Arien, Spirited Work inspires
and supports the vision of a more just, sustainable,
and hopeful future. The Leadership for
the New Commons program gathers a diverse
group of professionals four times a year
to collectively develop a new vision of bioregional
leadership capable of working for a sustainable
future within an interdependent and increasingly
complex world. The Seasons Program for
Women As Leaders brings together women
from diverse professions, communities, and
backgrounds four times a year to foster the
experiences, talents, and insights of women
as agents of change and healing and to support
women’s work on behalf of the Earth
community. Through the Bountiful Table program,
people gather to discuss social and environmental
concerns particularly around issues of food
security, heath, and sustainability. Annual
Iona Retreats and Conferences bring groups
to the ancient Island of Iona in Scotland
to draw wisdom and inspiration from the Celtic
tradition for the renewal of spiritual life
in the context of a religiously-diverse,
interdependent earth community. In conjunction
with Schumacher College in England, annual
summer courses are led by a faculty of leading
thinkers and innovators on such issues as
ecology, economics, holistic science, spirituality,
and philosophy. In collaboration with the
Forum on Religion and Ecology, the Whidbey
Institute also offers Religion and the
New Cosmology Thomas Berry Seminars on
a nearly annual basis.
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