English Issue 25-26/2026

We are accustomed to thinking of time as a linear progression of events and deadlines, but living things measure time differently. Anyone who observes trees notices that growth is not a straightforward march, but a breathing—an alternation of impulse and rest. Above us, celestial bodies mark the rhythms of day and night and the cycle of the year; the moon moves the tides and shapes the growth of plants; and beyond the moon there’s an entire cosmos in motion.

What can be measured, what can be sensed, and what can only be guessed at? In our conversation with Ernst Zürcher, the tree becomes witness to a world that resonates on multiple levels. As we read, we slow down and encounter a clock that lives.