Wendell Berry: novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist, and last but not least: farmer. Dear friends, Following Ervin László and Richard Heinberg, another great and wise soul has passed this month: Wendell Berry has died at the age of 92. I had already reported on the passing of László and Heinberg in the blog post ‘Short Update’. With the passing of Wendell Berry, the planet has once more become a little poorer, I was almost tempted to write, but of course that is n

Dear friends, Due to circumstances, it’s been a while since I last sent a Walkie-Talkie out into the world. But to make up for it, you’ll get a bit of extra time! During this walk, which lasts about thirty minutes, I talk about the climate disaster summer in Europe and other parts of the world. I discuss the still (very) inadequate attention being paid to this increasing climate misery, and the abominable response from governments and political actors worldwide. The political

Short! Short! New blog series on the way The passing of Richard Heinberg and Ervin László No more new audio versions Walkie-talkies will come back Dear friends, I regularly receive feedback on my blog and musings, and it’s usually very positive – something that really encourages me on my journey. It’s very nice to know that the posts I share with the world often mean something to many of you. One comment I’ve received quite often in the past is that my blog posts and musings

A fascinating interview with Rob Hopkins by Nate Hagens. Every minute of the 94-minute interview is worth watching: Why is the ecological crisis a “crisis of the imagination?” Dear friends, In my previous post, “Apocaloptimism,” I concluded with a reference to the work of Rob Hopkins, and I promised you an interview with this pioneer of the transition to a different and more beautiful world. I’ll keep this introductory text brief: any attempt to summarize this delightful and

Beach-goers rest on the shore of Lake Lacanau as clouds of smoke rise into the sky from the Gironde wildfire in southwestern France on July 24, 2026. A haunting, iconic image that quickly went viral. Maximilien Lamy—AFP/Getty Images Dear friends, I wasn’t planning to write any blog posts during my vacation, but current events in Europe (and elsewhere in the world, though as usual we hear less about those) have made me feel that I must—and want to—pick up my pen again. But jus

The center of the Milky Way Galaxy above our garden in Hungary. Photo taken with my phone on August 6, 2024, at 10:12 p.m. Dear friends, In this musing, I’m going to make an exception and allow myself just a tiny bit more words than usual, since my New Year’s resolution to keep these Musings short. I’m doing this because this text really does touch on the essence of my project and my goals for the coming years. So please bear with me—it won’t be unbearably long, either. I’d l

Scorched landscape, Somogy County, Hungary, August 2022 Dear friends, Someone suggested a while ago that I should once more write something about heat waves, in particular about the extreme heat wave that has gripped Europe over the past few weeks. Well then, I would like to oblige, but what more is there to say? It’s all been said already—hundreds or thousands of times since the 1970s. It is starting to sound a bit like a broken record, a needle that keeps getting stuck in t

Tree in the afternoon light, Julian Alps, Slovenia. September 2025 Dear friends, In the previous Musing, I talked about echo chambers, and I suggested that our entire society can be seen as a kind of echo chamber, in which dominant viewpoints and worldviews are constantly reflected and amplified, while divergent, dissident, or unusual viewpoints are underrepresented, suppressed, or silenced. Society as a whole is the echo chamber you don’t even realize you’re in. That “overar

Sunset near the village of Ág, Hungary. September 2026 Dear friends, Over the past few months, I’ve shared a number of interviews with leading scientists about some surprising insights emerging in science and the philosophy of science—insights that have far-reaching implications for the way we view the world and ourselves. And I will share many more interviews and lectures like these in the months to come. Most of these scientists are completely unknown to the general public.

The small village in southern Belgium where I was writing this post, in an old house next to the Ourthe River. Dear friends, A week ago, I was on a writing retreat. That week, I was able to stay in a large house in a village in southeastern Belgium, in the Ourthe Valley. The house belongs to the parents of some good friends, and I feel grateful and privileged to have been able to spend a week here in seclusion, focusing on my writing. It is an old house, situated next to a sm

Second interview with the brilliant physicist and inventor Frederico Faggin—the inventor of (among other things) the first microchip and the touchscreen—on his views on consciousness, quantum physics, science, and spirituality. Highly recommended! The first few minutes are an introduction; the actual interview begins at 2:40 Dear friends, I am pleased to share this second interview with the brilliant quantum physicist and inventor Frederico Faggin with you. Frederico Faggin i

A fascinating interview with the brilliant physicist Frederico Faggin, the inventor of the first microchip and of the the touchscreen, discussing his views on consciousness, quantum physics, science, and spirituality. Highly recommended! The first few minutes are a “teaser”; the actual interview begins around 2:44 Dear friends, I promised you quite some time ago that I would talk about Frederico Faggin, someone whose work I have been following for years. My apologies for the

Eight-minute video in which Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, recounts an unlikely case of synchronicity that happened to him personally. Warmly recommended! Dear friends, In the previous Musing, I shared a very long interview with you, so this time I’m serving up a very short excerpt from an interview. Just to restore the karmic balance. And since I promised you a while back to tell you more about the phenomenon of synchronicity (or meaningful

Interview with Àlex Gómez-Marín by Essentia Foundation. The first few minutes are a trailer and summary; the actual interview begins at 2:55 Dear friends, I would like to share this extraordinary interview with an extraordinary scientist with you. Àlex Gómez-Marín holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics; he is a neuroscientist and philosopher, director of the Laboratory of Organism Behavior at the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, and director of the Pari Center (you can a

D ear friends, In this Walkie-Talkie number twelve, I find myself back in the sculpture park near Antwerp, and I invite you on a little thought exercise, inspired by the many molehills scattered across the park's lawn, betraying the presence of our little underground friends. In the first part, I explain how we can see molehills, and especially our rather fruitless battle against them, as a good analogy for our constant attempts to control nature and the desperate struggle to

D ear friends, During this walk, I will delve a little deeper into our current worldview and the reasons why our worldview is not really of great help us to be in a better relation to our living world, our biosphere. In Walkie-Talkie #10 , I gave a few examples of worldviews and their connection to underlying ideas about consciousness and ‘mind’. I tried to clarify to what degree a worldview or paradigm can have a decisive influence on the relationship between a civilization

D ear friends, In Walkie-Talkie #10 I continue where I left off last time: with the great 19th-century psychologist and philosopher William James and his notion of the ‘filter theory’, a remarkable theory about consciousness and ‘mind’. During the previous walk , I briefly explained why I find William James and his work so important and relevant, and now I will go into that in more detail, as well as the question of why we need to talk about the ‘mind’. Why is it necessary

Half-hour interview with New York physician, scientist, and philosopher Neil Theise, on complexity, emergence, and consciousness as the basis of reality. Dear friends, As promised in the previous post, I will begin this series Musings and Meditations by introducing a number of remarkable scientists and philosophers whose work opens up extraordinary perspectives on a possible new understanding of what the world actually is, and what we actually are. All these extraordinary sci

Lake Balaton, Hungary, April 2025 Dear friends, Let us first turn the above question around: why short and sweet? This, of course, refers to resolution number six in the recent blog post ‘New Year’s Resolutions’: the intention to strive for conciseness and brevity in this blog from now on. This is really a serious challenge for me, but one that I am taking on with determination! Brevity means, in concrete terms: a maximum of 1200 words, whereas posts have been at times three

Forest, Somogy province, Hungary, April 2025 D ear friends, I know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Still, I have conjured a few for this new year (which is already not tha t new anymore). Both in terms of my personal life and my current path, this “work in progress,” A Biosphere Project. I won't bore you with the resolutions concerning my personal life, although there is sometimes a lot of overlap with my current “work.” Over the past year, it has sometimes b