Food for Thought – TQR & Resonance

An idea, a book, a concept, a “matter for reflection” that we share to open minds, explore new subjects, and encourage seeing things from another perspective.

The acronym TQR stands for Travail Qui Relie (“work that connects”), encompassing the practices, methods, or even rituals (like a beauty ritual) that reconnect us to resources long neglected.
Originally, TQR emerged as an antidote to the generalized acceleration of time, the saturation of information processed daily, the cult of hyper-performance, and the growing anxiety about the possible end of humanity. It developed around immersion programs in the wild to relearn connection with living beings beyond humans, with four core objectives: rediscover gratitude, listen to emotions, change one’s perspective on the world, and contribute to positive transformation of the environment.

The practice aims to reconnect with others, oneself, and all living things, preparing what some call the “inner transition”—a prerequisite for any energy and ecological transition. This is called great reliance, a spiritual response to our hyper-connected digital modernity, which connects as much as it isolates.
With the rise of eco-spirituality, TQR has gained both popularity and legitimacy, almost becoming a method within this new movement of thought. Christophe Monnot, sociology of religion lecturer in Lausanne, observes: the Church is no longer our common home—the Earth is. “The Earth is no longer considered a geophysical reality but revered as a sacred entity.”

This is the foundation of eco-spirituality.
Despite Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato si, urging us to save our common home, religion is increasingly withdrawing from social and cultural life in developed Western countries. Our need for the sacred now shifts to Gaia, the living entity regulating relations among all beings, making the Earth our new Church and addressing what psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva calls our “incredible need to believe.”

Consequently, everything is a means to reconnect with the Earth, its energy, and benevolent telluric power: alchemical singing to connect to the sky, intestinal cleansing with frog venom, week-long shamanic rituals to talk to the sun, learning the new Tao of love, forming circles around trees with bodies pressed to trunks to let regenerative sap rise, reviving druids and witches for their ability to communicate with all living forces, or simply contemplating a stream or stone for hours. Wisdoms—Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, animist—are hybridized to prepare inner conversion. Across the world, a new liturgy flourishes with rituals inspired by indigenous peoples of Africa, Oceania, and South America.
Mocking eco-spirituality would be mistaken. Even if some rituals appear playful, it reflects contemporary disorientation and a deep aspiration for another way of life—a life in resonance.

Resonance has migrated from hard sciences to the social sciences. Once studied only in acoustics, electromagnetism, or quantum physics, it has been reconceptualized by German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, author of Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World (2018) and Pedagogy of Resonance (2022). He defines it as:
“a cognitive and affective relationship with the world in which subject and world touch, respond, and transform each other mutually.”
He distinguishes three forms:
Horizontal resonance – in social contexts (family, friends, close relationships)
Diagonal resonance – in productive contexts (school, work, consumption)
Vertical resonance – in relation to what is greater than us (nature, religion, art, history)

Those achieving resonance in all three dimensions reach the threshold of a happy life, gaining personal autonomy, social recognition, and collective intelligence.
For a long time, we believed rational thinking alone sufficed to produce, control, lead, and make decisions effectively. Today, reason must also pass through resonance. Ignoring this growing, universal need would be unreasonable.

Summary note by Paul-Henri Moinet
Norman alumnus, columnist at Le Nouvel Economiste, editor-in-chief at Sinocle (an independent China-focused media), former Sciences Po Paris teacher, and former strategic planning director at major agencies including Publicis Groupe and Havas Media Group.