Foretaste Nº 21
An occasional newsletter as a deep dive into the minds, habits, obsessions, affairs, and influences of our friends and fam.
Together & Jorn
The first Foretaste of 2025! And a special one, with one of our good friends Jorn Bartlema.
Jorn and I go way back—so far, in fact, that trying to pinpoint our first exchange is like chasing shadows through the digital rot of long-forgotten servers. Suffice it to say, it predates the iPhone era, when life felt less tethered yet somehow more rooted. Jorn has always been a rare presence in our orbit—a poet at heart, a deep thinker, an explorer of complex ideas, and above all, a loyal friend. We first crossed paths at …,staat when we were still green and didn’t know anything of the world. Together, we tackled complex future concepts for international retail organizations, stroller brands and witnessed the birth of one of my favorite projects at staat —Wilderland— during both of our second stints there. Jorn was also the brilliant mind behind the title of my peculiar little photobook from 20 years ago, For As Long as I Can’t Remember. And, of course, let's not forget our latest collaboration: tentim.es
Today, Jorn channels his boundless curiosity and intellect into regenerative, impact-driven ventures, navigating the intricate web of ideas and systems that challenge us to rethink how we live and work. At the same time, he finds joy in the creative flow of writing children’s stories (and here’s hoping we’ll see more of those soon!).
In a world often dominated by distractions and uncertainties, Jorn remains a true seeker—thoughtful, courageous, and always ready to remind us that the most profound answers are often hidden in the questions we fear to ask.
Enjoy his Foretaste!
Currently
It’s funny, as someone who is so accustomed to using language, whether through writing or thought, I notice a reluctance lately within myself to put things in words. At least too quickly. Language is an abstraction of reality, and brings attention to the mind at first, away from other parts of the body. Although I love hanging around in the unlimited realm of ideas, it is also a potential great escape in some way from that what does not want to be felt. But language can also work the other way around. Opening a door to a new sensation, a new knowing, or resonating with an old truth stored away in our body. So when I mention reluctance, I think it has to do with being thoughtful about whether I (will) use words to take me away from my felt sense of reality, or bring me closer to it. I like how David Whyte says ‘poems are an emblem of courage and the attempt to say the unsayable’ — going to a place inside you that doesn’t know what to say. Maybe that is what is needed more than ever now, because we have truly no idea what our world will look like in a couple of decades. So becoming familiar with the unknown, the unsayable, and sitting with that, is something not only to get used to, but also where we might find the only answers that will make sense. Does this make sense?
Meanwhile, working with Present Future for regenerative and impact-driven organisations and initiatives, like Cabiner who building a regenerative recreation company, and Greentimer, a circular car conversion start-up aiming to electrify pre-owned fossil fuel cars at scale.
While the negative consequences of benefits-internalising costs-externalising economic practices are everywhere — from extreme biodiversity loss to pollution — corporates and governments are winding back initiatives that protect people and ecosystems from harm. At the same time, the world is buzzing with ideas and ambitions to create positive change. Imagine if we can bring more creative and strategic minds to help develop nature-positive business models and brands. If we use psychological and organisational expertise not to manipulate but to empower people and teams to better understand themselves and turn their values and ambitions to action. If we design systems according to how life actually works.
As Gregory Bateson said: “The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works and the way people think.” These are the realms I’m travelling right now.
Currently reading
I have the habit of reading 5 or 6 books at the same time, at this moment these include:
How the World Made the West (Quinn) and The Dawn of Everything (Graeber & Wengrow) both deconstructing common (euro-centric) narratives about the (Western) world. It’s fascinating how many assumptions and ideas from the past we still take for granted today, how certain ‘truths’ are woven into our systems — from education to economy — and are hardly questioned or challenged. It makes me think of when my twins went to school and the standard procedure was to put them in different classrooms, based on research from the seventies. Because it didn’t feel right to us, we looked into it ourselves and found various papers and studies on the impact on the cognitive and emotional development of twins. Doing so before the age of 8 or 9 only had far more negative than positive consequences. Both schools our kids went to changed their policies after we shared this with them
Next to these titles I’m midway The Fourth Turning (Strauss & Howe) on how societies move through cycles (High, Awakening, Unraveling, Crisis), how these are expressed in for example religion and politics and how each generation in those cycles relate to it, influencing the development of the next generation. Interesting how things repeat. We will see how the next crisis (yes, it just started according to the writers) will play out, with so much technological power and systemic interdependency. It seems inevitable at this stage and we all will have to play our role.
Lastly, I just started The Crisis of Connection by Niobe Way, an insightful and resourceful book on our polarised world. She is known for studying boy culture and the impact of raising boys without mentors and emotional intelligence on society. She actually defines our current (western) society as a ‘boy culture’.
Currently watching
Not a lot. There’s only one thing I never miss, which is SNL. Already a fan, my admiration grew even more during Covid, when they kept on producing the show working from home, with the use of smartphones, zoom and low-fi sets. Amazing how they were able to deliver with such limitations. Proof of how restrains can unlock true creativity, and of their genius minds of course.
More genius minds: this conversation between Daniel Schmachtenberger, Iain McGilchrist and John Vervaeke on the psychological drivers of the metacrisis is incredibly insightful. From how we make meaning as human beings to the working of the left and right hemispheres; they explore how we arrived where we are in the world today.
Currently listening
Well, podcasts are getting most of my time: What is a Good Life?, The Great Simplification, Accidental Gods, Planet Critical, Inspiring Futures, Theories of Everything, The Voicecraft, Lex Friedman old episodes mainly (he went quite Rogan since a while unfortunately).
Currently eating
My partner took on baking bread and pastries, so many lovely cardamon buns, focaccia’s and pita’s.
And I make lots of soups. Just give me a good soup.
Currently drinking
Coffee tea & water as always. Tiny bit of wine. However, one guilty pleasure this winter: selfmade Glühwein.
Found this Scandinavian recipe for a white gluhwein that’s just too good (sorry Dutch only).
Currently obsessed about
The ideas, experiments and views that are put into the world by Dark Matter Labs (Indy Johar) and The Consilience Project (Daniel Schmachtenberger). The way they are able to zoom out, make sense, and zoom in again, to interpret and rethink the world… imagine these minds for president…
Currently distracted by
The news…
Currently trying to avoid
Philosopher Erich Fromm distinguishes between two modes of existence. Living life in the ‘mode of having’ or in the ‘mode of being’.
The ‘having mode’ refers to ‘having needs’: possession and control of things that makes us (feel) safe and secure. The ‘being mode’ refers to ‘being needs’, which are developmental: becoming something, i.e. wise, skilled, virtuous.
We’re so culturally primed to focus on having things in order to be someone. (Hello advertising). Even in more subtle ways, next to stuff, there are other things we also want to ‘have’ in order to ‘be’, like information, experiences, knowledge, relations, spirituality.
The risk of confusing the having mode with the being mode, is that it will never fulfil our being needs.
There is so much to learn and there are so many great minds to learn from. Sometimes I feel like being in a candy store and just want to eat it all. And when I do so in the wrong mode, it will not fulfil me. For me this is something to be really aware of. There is a strong voice in my head representing a part that feels it needs to have knowledge in order to be okay. Instead of following up its orders I’m trying to listen with curiosity and have a dialogue.
Currently frightened by
Godlike technological capabilities in the hands of humans with the emotional maturity of a toddler.
I think this sums up quite well where we are today and how we got there. And is the greatest risk to our species and planet.
Currently transcended by
Conversations and practices that really zoom into the experience of the present moment. Creating space for what happens in the here and now, to observe and notice how that feels like, what is does internally and in relation to other. It’s teaching me a lot about my patterns, scripts and mechanisms.
Currently fulfilled with
I started working again on some ideas for children’s stories that we're laying around and it opened up streams of writing. Am talking to illustrators and a publisher soon, curious where this can go. Loving the process and just being able to read the stories to my kids is the most fulfilling part.
—
Thank you Jorn 🙇🏻
And here are the quick highlights from the Slacks (in no particular order):
The Anti-Social Century, via Joachim
Driving Around Looking For The Unknown, via Chris
Record Club, via Joachim
How Meta Plans To Crank the Dopamine Machine, via Joachim
Oliviero Toscani†, via Kimberly
Program or be Programmed, via Jordi
Are We Seeing a Political Realignment? via Chris
Facebook Caught Hosting AI-Powered Hitler, via Joachim
150 Years of Vintage Fashion Magazines, via Kimberly
Hope you enjoyed this one - And as always, let’s get Together soon on Slack & IRL!
Joachim, Jordi & Chris
PS. There are enough bots and ghosts in our lives. We’ve always seen Together&, human and alive, so please enjoy, participate, share and forward this. And we'd love to see you in Slack to discuss things often. If you know people who should join, let us know!
A good one! : )