On Friday 20 November, in Wetzikon, central Switzerland, three of our Firekeepers – including our founder, Linard Bardill – will be sharing their work on a new book in the making.
Franz-Theo Gottwald is an emeritus professor of ethics in Berlin. Martin Ott is a farmer, and the author of Kühe verstehen, Understanding Cows. Linard Bardill is a singer-songwriter, and the founder of the World Ethic Forum. All three contribute to our thematic strand on Ethical Groundwork. The book, Keime aus einem ethischen Biom – in English, Seeds from an ethical biome – is coming after years of dialogue between them, in the context of the World Ethic Forum Firekeeper Circle Process.
The book title itself resonates with the World Ethic Forum’s history. In 2025, we held a public event on the theme of the Microbiome. Earlier still, in 2023, we started describing our own work as that of articulating an ‘ethical biome’: the invisible culture that decides whether a soil or a body is healthy.
Our understanding evolved, and the metaphor of a sourdough mother came to replace and more aptly describe what the World Ethic Forum aims to be in the world. But the idea of an ethical biome did not disappear. Instead, it seeded a book project, which our three Firekeepers now carry forward.
That event, like our own gatherings, comes not in the form of a statement, but a question: Macht Glück Angst? Does happiness frighten us? What is the connection between the three terms? What does it mean when power, happiness and fear go together? The subtitle, Vom Mut zur Lebendigkeit, speaks of the courage it takes to be alive. Audience and presenters will reflect on those questions through readings, songs, and a conversation that does not end on the stage.
Linard calls the evening a Werkstattbericht, a report from the workbench rather than a presentation of results. This is not a triad of elders delivering a manifesto from on high. It’s three men with diverse professions and expertise – a professor, a farmer and a singer – who went through five years of the World Ethic Forum’s Firekeeper Circle process, which sometimes deeply challenged them, prompting them to unlearn and relearn. Now, they’re coming together to reflect with the public, and uncover new seeds and sprouts of knowledge for radically shared aliveness.
The flier comes with a warning: this event involves risk, and chance. Are you ready to step into uncertainty, and join our Firekeepers around the ethical biome?
The event will be held in German.
Friday, 20 November 2026, 19.30. Steiner Schule, Usterstrasse 141, Wetzikon. CHF 35, students 20, Kulturlegi 10. Tickets at eventfrog.ch.
