Welcome to The Honest Sorcerer! A blog about magical thinking in our modern times. If you are interested in the occult as well as traditional and/or modern wizardry you have to look elsewhere (I can point you to some respected authors in this field).
So why honest sorcerer then? It is a long story.
It began almost exactly two years ago. I was living the ‘happy life’ of mid-level manager working for a respected multinational company waiting in an airport lounge to board my flight. I was scrolling the news feed of my favourite news site downloading articles to have something to read during my trip above the clouds. It was the usual stuff: corrupt politicians stealing our money and cheating on elections, economic difficulties, news about inventions promising to change the world. And one about climate change. (‘I know, 1.5 degrees by the end of the century, how bad it will be for my grand-grand children, and by the way we’re all gonna die etc.’ — or so I thought back then.) After reading the usual news the announcement came: my plane was ready to be boarded.
I took my seat next to a window and since I was travelling alone I started to read the article about climate change. Oops. It’s not 1.5 degrees but 4... Oh, and not by the end of this century, but in 30 years — still in my lifetime, not in one of my far-off descendants’... The text referenced the seminal New York Times piece: The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. Boarding completed — came the announcement from the flight attendant so I quickly downloaded the referenced article and followed the rest of the links in the original news piece.
The plane landed 2 hours later and a different person stepped out of the metal tube. I’ve collected the keys of my rental car which happened to be a gas-guzzling monster sized SUV (they’ve run out of smaller cars) and drove to the hotel. By the time I got there it was dark already so I’ve locked myself up in my room and continued reading article after article, opening the referenced scientific studies, then the next reference in the one I was reading and so on. It was late night when I finally turned off the lights and tried to get some sleep.
Why… Why? Why?! I asked a million times after that sunny day up in the clouds. How could ‘humanity’ let this happen? How did ‘we’ get here and how do ‘we’ get out? Who/what is behind all this? Why is this happening to me, to my family and to all of us…? Why now? Why didn’t anyone warned us?
I’ve read thousands of scientific publications, news articles, books, listened to podcasts spanning hundreds of hours in total— looked for honest and wise people willing tell the truth. Luckily I’ve found quite a few and cannot be thankful enough for their work in trying to shed some light of the most under-reported — yet the most imminent — dangers of our time: resource depletion, overpopulation, ecosystem collapse, the coming and going of civilizations… Including ours.
I’ve spent long hours (almost every day) in the neighbouring woods walking alone and pondering on these topics. I’ve accidentally took the red pill, but Morpheus was nowhere to warn me… Slowly I’ve came to accept the reality of our time — occasionally sliding back to anger and depression — realizing the only way forward for me is to let it all out. Write. Share what I learned. Reflect. Start a good discussion. Spread the word.
One of my favourite author John Michael Greer said once when he was asked about expanding higher education in hopes of solving the unemployment crisis:
“…to call this magical thinking is an insult to honest sorcerers.”
Hence the name of the blog. Thank you Michael.
I’ve started with what this blog is not about. Now I finish my first post with what it is about. It’s about critical thinking, asking the right questions even if they yield discomforting answers. It is about contemplation on the final stage of our civilization. It’s aim is to dispel magical thinking patterns based on evidence, good old science and a bit of common sense.
I’ve received a handful of seeds in form of valuable thoughts and ideas. I’ve planted and nurtured them. Now they brought their own seeds. Let me share them with you — you might find them useful.
B
Disclaimer: I’m going to discuss some pretty though topics here. If you feel a slight discomfort, it’s OK. Sit with it. Take a walk and contemplate. Or discuss it with a friend. If you find it hard to accept or very disturbing, please look for a lighter read. My aim is not push you into depression — quite the contrary. I wish to help you coming out on the other side to find a peace of mind in this turbulent world.
As you might have noticed I’m not a native speaker of the English language. If you happen to find grammatical errors or weird use of words please accept my honest apologies.
