What is the Spirit of Legacy Project about?

Here it is in a nut shell:

A Call to Legacy Practice–Creative Generosity on Behalf of the Future.

How can future generations be heard now? How quickly can we learn new ways of living with the welfare of the whole Earth Community in our minds and hearts?  How do we really do this?  As the world is increasingly turning to these questions, The Spirit of Legacy Project is right there…focused sharply on these very questions. This project is committed to personal and collective “legacy practice,” a conscious caring for the future as our sacred responsibility.

The spirit of this project is one of gratefulness for the beauty of the world, belief in a positive message, and a willingness to work hard to restore health to the natural world and preserve it for future generations.  With many colleagues and associations old and new, in a hope-filled consciousness, and in the deep power of the Chinook land as a home base, this new project is underway.

Mission

The mission of the Spirit of Legacy Project is to reach into our region and beyond to engender legacy practice.  The project is an instrument to help bring forth a passionate commitment to learning and teaching conscious caring for the future through action in the most practical and personal terms.

The focus of this project is legacy – the gift to the future that this generation will bequeath the world and the generations to come.  Legacy for us is the work of receiving from the universe, the past, from the Earth, from others, and giving to the future.  We are here to pass our inheritance on into the future enriched with our own contribution. 

The Spirit of Legacy Project places clear and careful emphasis on “Spirit,” encouraging us to call upon the powers that brought the universe into being to teach us and show us the way into the future.  The spiritual dimension is deeply imbedded in all programs of this project.  Being creative with our generosity means that we have to invent the new expressions, the new channels, the new values that will break the old patterns of inordinate self-interest and the unwillingness to consider the long-term consequences of our attitudes and actions.  Creative generosity is a living and vital energy that requires a compassionate outlet.  At its deepest levels it is a Spirit-inspired or sacred activity. 

Action – the four new ventures

1.  The Awakening Message:  Needed now is a message of authentic hope that is articulated with clarity, coherence and power. The message is a call to awaken to the joy and creative responsibility of being alive at this moment in Earth’s history.  We will work in teams in an ongoing process to craft shared vision and the articulation of a shared message reaching to individuals and organizations in this region and beyond—a call to spirited action.

2.   A Sacred Place of Learning:  The Spirit of Legacy Project has a remarkably suited home base, the new Story House at the edge of a meadow deep in the forest. The surrounding natural world initiates us into the experience of the larger life that sustains us physically and spiritually.  Story House is a place dedicated to learning and telling the Universe Story, the Earth Story, the story of the human journey, and the story of each of our individual lives…with legacy in mind. The 37-acre eastern portion of Chinook land, owned by the Hulls and a friend, will be a unique area of forest stewardship for environmental learning, courses, events and retreats in harmony with the adjoining acres owned by the Institute.  All the Chinook land with its trails and facilities will continue to grow as a place of deep importance to many hundreds of people, a place of affection, inspiration and shared involvement.

3.  The Deepening Spirit:  We need new levels of depth in our thinking, in our spiritual lives and in our creative efforts.  Spirit of Legacy programs are designed to pursue depth in our understanding of issues, including global warming, and in our discernment of how we can respond in an enlightened spirit.  Programs underway include Iona Retreats, Integral Spirit, Women’s Journey, Story Chair, and several contract retreats.  Additional programs are planned in conjunction with the Institute including an event with noted cosmologist Brian Swimme, a conference for center directors from across North America, and a networking of organizations on the theme the “Resurgence of Hope.”

4.  The Fellowship of the Journey:  The Spirit of Legacy Project is committed to bringing forth a new community of consciousness and practice to be known at this point as the Fellowship of the Journey.  It will become a serving community committed to engendering legacy practice.  It will function as part of a larger network of collaborative organizations. 

Organization

The Spirit of Legacy Project is directed by Fritz Hull, a founder of the Whidbey Institute.  A group of “thinking partners” forms the immediate community of friends helping to initiate this project.  The project is organized under the Whidbey Institute and its 501-c-3 not-for-profit status.   The support of both the Institute mission as well as this project is encouraged.  The relationship between the Spirit of Legacy Project and the rest of the Whidbey Institute is a strong and mutually enhancing partnership that is filled with promise.