Unpause.

Re-entry commencing.

My journey over the last two and a half years was a full-on focus on inner work, co-living, co-creating, community, and spiritual inquiry. I took a break from the startup, crypto, web3, and entrepreneurship world - left my active role at Centrifuge (which we started in 2017) - it was time to take a different turn in the road for a while.

After many years of satisfying my spiritual and communal itch as much as I dared during my everyday (work) life - my body and soul made it clear at the beginning of 2020 that this itch couldn’t be scratched every now and then and be neatly put away in its box again. It was time to drop everything and venture down the proverbial rabbit hole until it would spit me out again - or not. In I jumped.

I went deep into the unknown and the teachings and practices of different spiritual traditions. Living in temples. Discovering and exploring access points to the one Life (with an upper-case L). Experimenting, inquiring, living, and co-creating in small and large group constellations. Holding month-long inquiries into the emergence within groups when the involved individuals "get out of the way" and support the natural unfolding and creativity. Organizing festivals and workshops focused on group and spiritual inquiry. Bathing in the mysteries and seeking initiation into what is now an essential anchor in my life. I wrote more songs and poetry than ever in my life before (there's a whole book we wrote together).

One result of this journey is coming deeper into alignment with myself - while simultaneously giving up that "self" that has been constructed over many years. Each step integrating a piece that was previously outsourced or subconsciously running the show. (Just in case you wonder - there is a never-ending stream of them, just waiting to be picked up, taken by the hand, and brought home when the time is right. Congrats, human!)

As it turned out, in spring of this year, a circle came … well... full circle… A part of me that was slumbering over the last years awoke together with the bluebells and mustard flowers. Blinking its eyes open, yawning, "It is time."

It was drawing me back into web3, large systems, and technology once more. I now actively support teams building products for a future worth living for. I am angel investing with my long-term friends and co-founders Maex and Martin - investing in projects that align with our values of a decentralized, connected, empowering world. I work with communities and DAOs, supporting their governance & token design, as well as operations. I am focussing my mind and money on the climate crisis as much as I dare to (so maybe we can ease the coming decades just a bit).

Ultimately, it was time to sort through all the skills and knowledge that I gathered over the last decades - pick those that serve me now in order to express myself in the world and continue to build and manifest. Invest my time and money in projects and activities that create a world where individuals are more connected to themselves, each other, and the planet. Where it's "power-with" instead of "power-over." Where sacredness and spirituality speak to the inherent beauty and connectedness of life each of us carries and can be expressed in any thing we do and make. Where the body and soul are as valued and cherished as the mind and its constructs. Where we continue to create new blueprints of how it is possible to live and create from that place of alignment of all the parts, with an open heart, and commitment to truth.

I dare to bridge the worlds I call home - community, tech, spirituality, web3, entrepreneurship, embodiment, art, and the mysteries of life. Or at least I am in a constant inquiry of how they want and can be bridged. All fractals of a whole playing a symphony.

This post is a continuation of my (so far primarily privately conducted) sense-making by putting words to this process. Stay a bit if you want to go on this ride with me. Follow. Subscribe. Bookmark. Comment. Maybe you have your own version of this inquiry. I'd be delighted to know we're walking in the same direction!

You will find me here, writing about the journey in all the fractals, current and upcoming projects, philosophical musings, and whatever else comes up along the way.

Thanks for being with me! It's going to be fun - or at the very least, interesting.

Trust me.

I have no idea what I'm doing.

Well…

Almost...

🌀✨🖤