Fritz Hull, Co-Founder of The Whidbey
Institute: A Surrender to the Call
An interview by Rod MacIver
Fritz Hull, with his wife, Vivienne, co-founded the Whidbey Institute on Whidbey
Island off the Seattle, Washington coast. The Institute holds conferences and
events that explore the human connection to the natural world. It was originally
founded as The Chinook Learning Center in the sixties and has gradually evolved
into a center attracting leading ecological thinkers from all over the world.
The following excerpts are from my interview of Fritz. We were talking about
the challenges of sticking with your calling during the tough times:
“Staying with our bliss, our calling, over the long haul has in fact
brought me and Vivienne our happiness. And that means staying with it in times
of unhappiness. Riding out the storms, the times of bewilderment, and hanging
on and staying with it. Coming through those periods, there is a confirmation,
and that inner confirmation brings the happiness that makes it all feel worthwhile.
“When you stay with it and move through the seasons, you learn spring
follows winter. It will happen. And it will probably happen in a way that you
will have forgotten how beautiful it is. It is happening right now in these
woods. We need to allow things the time to come into their own. To their moment
of flowering, of opportunity, and to be there and intersect that opportunity,
to be taken and lifted by that opportunity onto the next one, which will then
include the next dark time. Probably. No doubt. There will be more bewilderment.
“It requires a surrender to the call. And the call is both graceful and
demanding. It requires wholeheartedness. That is the key. It is the opposite
of an energy leakage, of things drifting off or being bleached away or being
stolen from you. Energy leakage is the opposite of wholeheartedness. It is whatever
drags me down and sideways and steals my energy. It steals my devotion. Devotion
is wholeheartedness.
“There is a great line from Annie Dillard which I love. She says, ‘The
thing is to stalk your calling in certain skilled and supple way. To locate
the most tender and live spot, and plug into that pulse.’ Isn’t
that great? It is from the story of the weasel.
“To me it comes from Spirit. It comes from relationship with the mystery.
What makes our heart sing? Where do we find that lilt in our hearts? What makes
us crotchety? What nourishes us? What makes us smile? What makes us thankful?”
As I often do, I asked Fritz if there was a poem or quote that he drew inspiration
from. He read me a quote by Chief Dan George, a Canadian Indian, that he has
been carrying in his wallet for twenty years:
‘The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the
fragrance of the grass speaks to me. The summit, the mountain, the thunder of
the sky, the rhythm of the sea speaks to me. The faintness of the stars, the
freshness of the morning dewdrop on the flower speaks to me. The strength of
fire, the taste of salmon, the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes
away, they speak to me, and my heart soars.’
Since Fritz read that quote it has often been on my mind as I walk through the
woods. Yes, when I am open to them, attempt to be attuned to them, the woods
speak to me, too. I know that reads like New Age mumbo-jumbo, but nevertheless,
it is a fact. Fritz said to me:
“It may seem odd at first, but you can walk the forest and do exactly
the same thing. You can get on speaking terms with everything: animals, little
bugs, and you can do that with everything. It simply means you are aware, you
are opening, you are noticing, you are standing with something. It is relationship.
Community. That is what will save the world. It is communion that will save
the world. Communion with beauty.
“In the 1960s I was working on the old farmhouse. Dilapidated and abandoned.
I spent a whole summer fixing it up so we could use it for meetings. I was thrilled
to be working physically doing carpentry on this old house. I just love that
stuff. Anyway, while working I would look out at the fields and the forests.
One day I was standing under a great western white pine that smelled so beautiful.
I kept stopping my work and looking out at this field. I had no idea why I was
so entranced by the fields and the intense blue of the sky. And the top of the
green fir trees against the blue sky. And the yellowing grass against the green.
“I was absolutely entranced by it. All summer long. This seemed to be
the path of my life, and I asked myself why my Christian tradition says nothing
of this. Why has nature been dropped from the agenda of contemporary Christian
spirituality? In fact most Christian spirituality is opposed to nature. It is
afraid of nature. It seems to be afraid that nature might compete with what
they call the “Centrality of Christ.” That is a false dichotomy.
“Beauty is a gift, a grace. A system, a reminder of truthfulness. That
grace is always there. That is why I go into the woods. That is why I lie down
on the grass. It is a presence of grace. The beauty of the natural world is
healing, is informing. I think that our engagement with beauty, our intimacy
with beauty, can save us.”
To learn more about the Whidbey Institute, go to www.whidbey.org
