Welcome

...or how the Honest Sorcerer came about

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 on the 7th of May, 2019. 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 favorite 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 traveling 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 at least 2 degrees 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. I’ve slowly realized that climate change is far from being our only problem, in fact it is part of a much bigger predicament.

In my quest for knowledge I’ve learnt about resource depletion, overshoot, ecosystem collapse, the coming and going of civilizations… Including ours. I’ve spent long hours (almost every day) in my neighboring woods walking alone and pondering on these topics. Gradually I’ve came to accept the reality of our time — occasionally sliding back to anger and depression — realizing that the only way forward for me is to let it all out. Share what I learned. Reflect. Start a good discussion. Spread the word…

Much to my dismay though, my friends and family looked at me like a lunatic when I started talked to them about these issues — so I stopped doing so. I got stuck. I realized that writing remained my only outlet channel, and the only way I could raise awareness among those who care to listen. I’ve started on medium, (be sure to read my articles there as well if you want to get the full picture), but after almost 2 years I realized how skewed the algorithms have become (especially when it came to geopolitics) and I recognized the need for a second channel. So here we go. (For those who don’t have time for reading all I wrote back there, I will post my most read essays here as well for reference.)

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 and systems thinking, asking the right questions even if they yield discomforting answers. It is about contemplation on the final stage of our civilization and becoming fully aware of our predicament. My aim is to dispel magical thinking patterns based on evidence, good old science and a bit of common sense. To provide answers to those who seek them.

So why the Honest Sorcerer then? One of my favorite authors, John Michael Greer, said once when he was asked about expanding higher education in hopes of solving the unemployment crisis and the much wider systemic issues affecting our societies:

“…to call this magical thinking is an insult to honest sorcerers.”

Hence the name of the blog. Thank you Michael.

Until next time,

B

PS: A few more words about me. I’m a mechanical product engineer by training, working for a large German engineering company in the field of electrification and automation of road transport for six years now. Before that, I worked more than a decade for an American corporation in roles ranging from maintenance engineering supporting various manufacturing locations, to supply chain process expert positions, as well as spending 2 years on a post-graduate leadership program in the supply chain and logistics areas. I’ve seen how investment and sourcing decisions are made in these great conglomerates, how our much cherished consumer products are produced and how they get to the end customer. I saw how ‘sausage’ is made.

I’m located in Eastern Europe and an EU citizen. I’ve been several times to the US, but also to China, North Africa, Germany, the UK, Belarus, Russia and many other European countries, visiting suppliers and manufacturing locations in these places as well as for vacation. As a ‘hobby’, I’ve spent the last 4 years reading and researching articles, studies, books and scientific papers published on ecological economics, petroleum and mineral geology, physics, climate science and engineering topics ranging from ‘renewables’ to diesel engines and energy economics. Most recently (and greatly due to the war in my region), I’ve been reading and listening to more and more geopolitics related blogs and podcasts.

I chose to stay anonymous because my thoughts and ideas—as you will soon learn reading this blog— go face first and straight up against the dogma’s of our western societies ; the company where I work included. It was exactly this unbearable inner tension between how I perceive reality and how my society tells me to think about it is what got me started as a writer. If I were full in favor of nuclear power or building an electrified utopia I would not need a pseudonym. I would post under my LinkedIn account and get famous with it. However, despite being fully aware of the fact this whole civilization is unsustainable, I still have to earn a living. I have wife and two kids. I have to feed them, pay the cost of housing and tuition. I don’t own land, nor the skills to make use of it, although I do what I can in my small garden and around the house.