Willie Unsoeld, along with Kurt Hahn are some of the biggest influences on Mountain Spirit’s founder. There is large collection of material on Unsoeld at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Here is a snapshot of Unosoeld’s thinking, taken from a lecture.
The Spiritual Values of Wilderness
From Pacific Crest Outward Bound School Book of Readings
And so what is the final test of the efficacy of this wilderness experience we’ve just been through together? Because having been there, in the mountains, alone, in the midst of solitude, and this feeling, this mystical feeling if you will, of the ultimacy of joy and whatever there is. The question is, “Why not stay out there in the wilderness the rest of your days and just live in the lap of Satori or whatever you want to call it?” And the answer, my answer to that is, “Because that’s not where people are.” And the final test for me of the legitimacy of the experience is, “How well does your experience of the sacred in nature enable you to cope more effectively with the problems of mankind when you come back to the city?”
And now you see how this phases with the role of wilderness, It’s a renewal exercise and as I visualize it, it leads to a process of alternation. You go to nature for your metaphysical fix – your reassurance that there’s something behind it all and it’s good. You come back to where people are, to where people are messing things up, because people tend to, and you come back with a new ability to relate to your fellow souls and to help your fellow souls relate to each other.
Willi Unsoeld, Former Director of Northwest Outward Bound
Founding Board Member of Evergreen State College
[Edited: Male references replaced with non-gender specific terms]
Editor’s Note: February 2023
I was running through some of my old posts, and thought I’d hunt down the first one, which led me to this post on Willie Unsoeld. How fitting to have launched this blog with this post. Life, not just climbing, is an experiential adventure. I think what i learned most from being an Outward Bound instructor as how to, (as I asked my students to do) transfer what I’ve learned on course in the field, to my daily life. Now so many years later after this first post, I now have an 11 yr old, just turned old enough to receive a pension here in New Zealand, and and feeling my bones a bit more. I’m still Telemarking though. There’s a lot of water under the bridge since this first post, what with Covid, lockdowns, and gender questioning in the recent years. Ah, but it’s all worth the game of life, isn’t it?
Randall Richards
Hawea, New Zealand
from being in such a beautiful, sometimes unforgiving place where nature seems more in balance.
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