Letters

to the Unknown

Philosophy was the dimension of thought that opened the possibility of welcoming the stranger—whether god, animal, or planet—into the world. It enabled the world to embrace what is remote and foreign, cultivating a space that was neither mine nor yours, but a shared, open realm.

We once believed we knew what the world was, but we conceived of it as a product of our actions and thoughts, the result of processes governed by properties and laws—legal, social, natural.

When our way of inhabiting the planet was threatened by the emergence of presences we had relegated to an immemorial, celestial background—the unchanging backdrop of things—we resisted their return, perceiving the unknown and its influences as enemies.

The war has begun—a war against everything foreign, against everything that threatens our home and our identity.

For this reason, in the second series of Planetary Conversations, we decided to write letters to the Unknown—to that which, by arriving, alters every place. After its arrival, places no longer belong solely to us, yet they never belong entirely to it. This is how a new world becomes possible.

Through writing, we seek to test another channel of communication—telepathy—to transmit the pathos of the soul across distances. For every letter sent presupposes that my soul is not alone, and that the world is not empty: there is always someone else, somewhere else.

Giovanbattista Tusa, Fall 2025