By Jan 
The world is buzzing. With tension, elections, economic jitters, and cross-border ambitions. While Russia and the West still aren’t sure whether they’d prefer negotiation or a good old-fashioned arm wrestle; while Europe practices ‘strategic autonomy’ as if playing a round of Risk; and while we in the Netherlands keep spending money because we ‘saw something nice’—underneath all these stories flows a much softer realization.
Namely, that perhaps we’re getting just a little tired of our own thinking.
As one report on geopolitical chaos dryly puts it: the world is in transition. Indeed. But hasn’t it always been? The news, however, mainly reveals just how loud our thinking about it has become. How we’re desperately trying to create order with words, while the silence—the deeper current—speaks much clearer.
Because if you read between the lines, it becomes evident: what’s missing is genuine community. Not the organized uniformity of boardroom tables and trade agreements, but real, human connection. This kind of community isn’t built on power, equality, or policy. It emerges when we dare to let differences exist without instantly trying to understand or control them.
As long as thinking attempts to solve everything, we remain stuck in repetition. Thinking analyzes, but awareness recognizes. And sometimes, awareness quietly reveals: this too is my fear, my longing, my part of the whole.
So perhaps—with a gentle wink—we shouldn’t discard the news entirely, but rather look at it for what it is:
A collective dream filled with labels and explanations, occasionally letting us chuckle at our own confusion.
Because recognizing that might bring us closer to true community than all the meetings in Brussels combined.
And the best part?
Sometimes it simply begins at a table.
With a few people.
And a good conversation.