River Whispers 2025

“The river is everywhere at once, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry house, at the whirlpool, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and that for it there is only the present, not the shadow of the past, not the shadow of the future.”

— Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse

Hesse’s words remind us of the timeless wisdom of the river, which reveals the essence of life in its stillness and immediacy. Yet how rarely do we engage with this kind of presence in everyday life.

As a society, we very rarely meet in silence. Often the offers we are presented with are so overloaded for our stimuli that when we get home, we can feel oversaturated. Perhaps even a feeling of being overwhelmed. After all, we have so many opportunities to be entertained every day. But public places, events where the hamster wheel seems to stop, where we can meet together in silence, are few and far between. Silence is sometimes even considered unpleasant. Empty words or the habitual and perhaps safe reach for the smartphone do not spark the magic of silence. It seems as if our attention needs to be constantly attended to. But maybe it’s just silence that needs our attention!

Silence carries so much wisdom. Silence holds so much magic. A magic that we should experience more in community. Because it helps us to “de-automate” the world we live in. It helps us to come into deeper contact by beginning to explore the space in between together. Filling the space in between not with empty words, but with our silent presence.

“A momentary space, as if lifted out of time.”

— Hildegard Kurt

We want to bring this magic into the world together with you. Establish it in the world together with you. And that is why we are inviting you to a river whisper on the occasion of this year’s World Water Day.

Let’s listen together to what the water has to tell us. Let’s use the shared moments of silence to get in touch with the river. To start flowing together. To usher in a cultural change together at the birthplace of cultures: our rivers.