In view of the dystopian world situation, I asked myself intensely during my sabbatical, now drawing to a close: What to do? Where to start? What can I contribute to positive futures with my roles as a musician, father, and university lecturer? Here are a few thoughts and interim results.
The first personal insight (also in the many conversations with my wife Silke): Transformation has to start with ourselves. Of course, it’s important to keep talking to people whose attitudes can leave you stunned – in my case, people who are not prepared to reflect on dominance as long as it plays into their own hands. And when it comes to conscious greenwashers, I get really angry – but everyone feels angry. So: first, look at yourself (“man in the mirror?!”), breathe, calm down, shrink the ego through meditation, grow compassion through meditation. Learn to do NOTHING. NOTHING. Distinguish between worry and fear.
Then tackle some pretty basic questions: What really motivates me to work through these never-ending to-do lists day after day? Why and for whom am I doing what – and what am I doing at all? Which beliefs can I really subscribe to? Which habits can I get rid of? I realize that nothing is more stubborn than endlessly ruminating on how to distinguish myself from others who supposedly don’t care or try as much as I do. Sound familiar?
New perspectives require a change of location. At the end of January, Silke and I spent two months in the USA, where we both had key professional connections. It was particularly exciting for us that after so many years of marriage (we had already celebrated our silver wedding anniversary) and previously “separate” careers, we were able to bring our perspectives – hers as a scientist, mine as an artist – together for the first time. In this respect, these reflections and words are ours jointly, which is very important to me!
We arrived in Boston at the very beginning of the Trump administration. We felt like we were in the eye of a hurricane: seemingly normal, lush life in the middle of a society inundated with a terrifying anti-future agenda. It seems as if there is a deliberate focus on the exact opposite of what makes civilization livable and survivable: empathy, justice, education, diversity, science, strong community, a culture of political exchange, health, ecology, etc. Instead: tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, climate rollbacks, mass deportations. What…? How dare you?! Sensing the sometimes silent despair of many people there, we accompanied the early phases of resistance, attended demonstrations and artistic actions, and experienced at first hand how horrified many people in the USA are.
But in conversations you also hear the self-reassurance, the hope: “It’s gonna swing back – everything will be fine again in 4 years.” I don’t believe that. This government is systematically dismantling democracy and causing irreparable damage – at a time when every day counts, when we should actually be building community instead of dismantling it — in other words, working regeneratively. Regenerative means: healing divided societies and destroyed ecosystems. With all due sympathy for those who are ducking away, emigrating, or simply fighting for survival in the face of the bleak situation: now everyone needs to be on deck. Whether we like it or not, we are in a global meta-crisis and still have around 10 years to get something done. It is no longer possible to muddle along somehow – without a profound transformation we risk everything.
But how do we keep a clear head amidst all the “flood of bullshit”? How do we invent, create, and plant positive futures in a crowded everyday life and in the headwind of controlled disinformation? A big task. That is why we sought out places that inspire. With our SOIL MUSIC project in mind, which sees the combination of culture and regenerative ecology as a comprehensive solution, we searched for terms like “Art + Ecology + USA” and quickly came across some great projects. A striking number were in California. No wonder – the West Coast of the USA has always been a place of innovation and inspiration, of cool, courageous “think big,” inventiveness, and spiritual renewal. Interestingly, music was a key factor in the last major social upheaval in the 60s/70s.
So off to California. In Los Angeles and San Diego, in Big Sur at the legendary Esalen Institute, and many other places in the countryside, we met people who are currently working “against all odds” to set up and implement innovative projects for the common good — people who are creative and courageous and, above all, who manage to think beyond themselves. You can feel a shift from ego to ecosystem here – and in the Trump USA of all places.
“Weave the basket” is what music manager Eva Soltes calls the networking of such projects across borders. Her combination of culture and ecology is fascinating: on the one hand, she organizes fantastic concerts at the Lou Harrison House in the Joshua Tree Desert and brings international musicians to schools where children have little access to education; on the other hand, she successfully practices permaculture at the “ground zero of climate change” — on dried-out desert soil. But is it really a case of “on the one hand/on the other”? Don’t they actually belong together — culture and agriculture? After all, cultura (Latin) can mean cultivation or care of the soil as well as care of the nutrient soil of the soul — for example, in music.
The pop singer Derek Richard Thomas from Los Angeles speaks on the subject of “Soil” at international conferences and has written the book How To Make Soil. His idea of combining the regeneration of the soil with inner healing (“inner and outer soil”) and the proximity of the terms “soul” and “soil” resonate exactly with the ideas of SOIL MUSIC.
We visited many more inspiring projects and sensed that something is happening under the radar. Yes, there are solutions. Yes, there are opportunities. But they can only become effective and move from the margins to the center if enough people join in — and are willing to invest their time and dedicate themselves.
Isn’t a major upheaval on the horizon anyway? We hear that artificial intelligence will change the reality of every single profession. If everything is already under scrutiny, why not readjust supposed professional constraints? Why not explore more ego-to-ecosystem potential? I can say that in my place of work — the Freiburg University of Music — there’s plenty of potential for change toward a fairer, more common good-oriented, sustainable agenda.
This brings me back to the beginning: transformation starts with ourselves and our environment. Starting from this, we can connect, open up, make ourselves vulnerable, and find language for where we stand on the truly important issues. Many people are doubly overwhelmed: by their own everyday life and the meta-crisis. And so conversations often revolve more around processing shocks about the agenda of the ruthless than about talking solutions and agreeing to tackle them together.
This is exactly where we want to start with SOIL MUSIC: dreaming up positive futures together — and coming up with something tangible at the same time. Anyone who wants to get involved, in whatever role, is warmly invited to get in touch! By the way: there will be a big opening event in St. Peter/Black Forest on September 27, and starting this fall, we’re planning regular events and activities. You’ll find everything online.
And that’s my status report. These lines were written under time pressure — the semester starts today, the sabbatical is over. And yet, they had to be written. Right now, every thought that keeps us from giving up and reminds us that a meta-crisis is also a meta-opportunity is worth sharing.