Grokkist Newsletter #54

Hey friends,

The other day, a contact I don’t often speak to told me, “You seem more confident about Grokkist lately. You’ve gone from tentatively offering something—‘I have this’—to declaring it: ‘Hey, listen up.’”

And they’re probably right, though I hadn’t fully realized it myself.

I think it’s part of a longer journey—from denouncing to announcing.

The shift they noticed wasn’t just about finding the right words or gaining new skills; it was about slowly melting the grip of that inner critic, that watchful voice whispering, “Maybe keep this part of you hidden.”

We all have that self-critic somewhere, tirelessly finding ways to hold us back, to question, censor, and remind us of what might go wrong if we’re seen in our entirety.

It’s often tragically convincing, this voice that, despite good intentions, keeps us from the fullness of who we are.

For years, I listened to that voice, believing it was looking out for me.

For a long time, I held these ideas inside—things I care about deeply—and they would bubble up as critiques against the world as it is: the stupid, cruel, and unfair things I could see that could be different.

I wasn’t wrong, but that energy needed refining; it’s hard to nurture anything when that inner voice only sees what’s missing.

As I let these ideas breathe, I found myself listening to the wishes behind the complaints.

And in that quiet listening, I found more beautiful words—words that resonated with people, slipping in quietly and sparking something within.

Seeing that response, the power of speaking to the potential rather than the problem, brought a new sense of confidence—a certainty in my bones.

Along the way, I reclaimed parts of myself I’d forgotten or left behind: the writer, the social critic, the thinker and poet, the playful philosopher. All the parts I was told were ‘too much’ or 'not enough this or that'.

And now, I want them all back.

I imagine many of you have taken similarly winding paths with your passions. There’s something spicy about daring to say, “This is what I care about,” and letting it be seen. It’s a vulnerable act, especially when those passions feel personal or have long been misunderstood.

And it’s no easy thing to keep practicing that expression, to keep revisiting and refining until it lands with clarity. Often, it takes someone else’s reflection back to us to see how far we’ve come.

Now, I’m ready to share Grokkist in its fullness, feeling a new sense of readiness to welcome others into this space.

I’m not in a rush, nor do I crave recognition for its own sake. I just… want to share, and hopefully spark something familiar in you, too.

So, I thought, what if I cleared the slate?

Imagine someone who’s never heard of Grokkist stumbles into this space. They might be a grokkist at heart without knowing it. What would I tell them in that first moment to spark recognition, to kindle something beyond just nodding at finding yet another interesting website or worthwhile service?

That’s where First Sparks comes in—a new series of six short reflections I’ve created to distil the grokkist experience and ethos, and to invite anyone stumbling upon Grokkist to see themselves in the journey.

If you’ve been with me on this journey, I hope you’ll see the shift—from critique to possibility—in these sparks.

And I invite you to reflect on your own journey. What has it taken for you to move from silence to expression? What has softened your own inner critic?

With curiosity and care,
Danu

From the Grokkist Press

Catching Confidence, Dropping Fear: Juggling as a Lifestyle

By Anthony Trahair (11 min read)

What juggling has taught me about patience, presence, and the power of play.

Most people think of juggling as a party trick or a circus skill—something flashy but trivial. But the first time I caught three balls in a steady rhythm, I felt something unexpected: a quiet thrill of confidence.

Juggling didn’t just challenge my coordination; it asked me to drop my assumptions, to let go of the fear of looking silly, and to release the need for perfection.

Read the full article ↗

Upcoming Events

🟠 The Juggling Lifestyle: Walking the Playful Path

🗓️ Thur 7 Nov | 7–8.30pm CET (UTC+1) (view in your timezone)
Hosted by Anthony Trahair

Explore juggling as a metaphor for life.

As Sadhguru says, “You can truly respond to everything in the world only if you are playful.” To fully walk the Playful Path, we need to develop a Vibrant Body, Joyful Mind, and Loving Heart.
I'll share some of my story and thoughts around playfulness, juggling and take you with me as I help you understand the juggler's perspective.

Bring three balls if you can juggle; if not, join us for the fun!

🟠 Free for Full Members or USD$10 suggested cover charge for non-members.

Event Details and RSVP ↗

Other Upcoming Events

• 28 Oct | 🟢 Our Hour: a space for sacred activism [weekly until 4 Nov]
• 30 Oct | 🟠 Explore Your Interoception
• 14 Nov | 🟠 Comfort in Contradiction: The Art of Non-Dual Thinking in a Polarized World

From the Grokkist Academy

Ecosophy course Cohort 6 now open

🗓️ 12 Nov – 10 Dec | Tuesdays 7–9pm ET (view in your timezone)
Led by Nathan Dufour Oglesby
Suggested tuition USD$220* (20% discount for full members)
(*Can't afford it? Forget About the Price Tag)

Every mind houses a philosophy. Learn to express and live yours, and make your existence truly home.

Join us for the next instalment of our online ecosophy course, designed to guide you through these tumultuous times of environmental and societal change.

Everyone has a philosophy, whether they know it or not.

This course invites you to explore how your personal philosophy—your ecosophy—interacts with the larger ecological and social shifts, and discover how to articulate and act upon your values with clarity and purpose.

Together we’ll take a tour through philosophical ideas and thinkers both ancient and modern.

Full course details ↗

Comparative Mediation course Cohort 2 now open

🗓️ 18 Nov – 18 Dec | Mondays & Wednesdays 7–9pm ET (view in your timezone)
Led by Jude Star
Suggested tuition USD$220* (20% discount for full members)
(*Can't afford it? Forget About the Price Tag)

Explore the richness and depth of meditation in an experiential journey that weaves together the philosophical underpinnings and transformative practices of Shamatha, Vipassana, Tantra, and Non-Dual meditation.

This course will give you a crash course in a wide spectrum of meditative techniques through an integrative and comparative lens.

My goal is to help you understand the essence of each and in turn better grasp meditation and its dynamic yet complementary philosophies better as a whole.

While each category encompasses countless traditions and practices that could be explored for lifetimes, I've distilled the core themes and techniques to convey the essence of each.

Full course details ↗

#1 - "The Kids Are Too Soft"

“The Kids Are Too Soft”

Generational Bullshit Thinking about Work Ethic

Culture StudyAnne Helen Petersen

"Complaining about the work ethic of the next generation of employees is a time-worn tradition." The author of Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation has "long argued that the critique of younger generations is a sublimated critique of a generation’s own parenting and child-rearing practices: no one wants to admit that the decisions they made (or tacitly endorsed) are responsible for the type of worker they find objectionable. The easy workaround is to expand the critique to an entire generation and put it in the passive voice. Hence: The kids want participation trophies instead of we gave the kids participation trophies."

The article is about the media industry (but could be about any industry) and how Millennial journalists are now doing the same thing to Gen Z, raising the question:

Do we *actually* not want people to go through what we went through….or do we secretly think what we went through is foundational to good work?

#2 - The Archive of Lost Dreams

A surreal stop-motion short film about "the existence of dreams that have lost their dreamers. These deserted dream worlds tend to become physically real and move throughout the cosmos as space-time bubbles that can be observed, recorded, and archived for study and classification." Like Wallace & Gromit's Grand Day Out if it were made by the Brothers Quay. One for metaphysicians, explorers of the subconscious, and inhabitants of L-Space. One of several such films set in the metaphysical world of Althyria. (14 min)

#3 - The sound design of Apple

The Sound of Apple 1.0 — Twenty Thousand Hertz - The stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds.

Over the last few decades, Apple has produced some of the most recognizable sounds ever made. In this episode, the Apple design team pulls back the curtain on their sound design philosophy and process, from the evolution of the classic “Tritone” alert, to the surprising origins of the Apple Watch so

Twenty Thousand Hertz - The stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds.Kelly Nowels

Twenty Thousand Hertz is a sound design podcast that explores the stories behind the world's most recognisable and interesting sounds. There are episodes on the Netflix 'tudum' sound, the voices of subway and train announcements, and the 8-bit music of Zelda. This episode features the Apple design team discussing their sound design philosophy and process, including the evolution of the classic “Tritone” alert and other recognisable notification tones.

#4 - Can a mistaken belief be a defence for murder?

The Spectre, the Bricklayer, and the Murder: The Hammersmith Ghost and the Curious Legal Status of Belief

Visit the post for more.

The Cutprice GuignolThe Cutprice Guignol

Can someone be reasonably held responsible for a crime committed under a genuinely-held, though mistaken, belief? In 1800s London, there were accounts of ghostly figure terrorising the local Hammersmith community, believed by some to be the restless spirit of a suicide victim. When bricklayer Thomas Millbrook is mistaken for the ghost due to his bricklayer's work clothes, he is tragically shot and killed by Francis Smith, a resident determined to stop the hauntings. Smith’s defense hinged on his sincere belief that he was shooting a ghost. The article explores the broader implications of this case on British law and traces how belief has been treated in legal contexts since.

#5 - Canon in D played on a hammered dulcimer

Pachelbel's Canon in D played on the hammered dulcimer (2.5 mins). Uplifting and transcendent. Extra context for music enthusiasts: the chord pattern includes all six primary chords in a diatonic key—major triads (I, IV, V) and minor triads (II, III, VI)—making it ideal for a hammered dulcimer arrangement. However, the original features a repeating bass ostinato, a chord continuo, and three staggered melody instruments forming a canon, which would require at least five instruments. While one ensemble performed it with six dulcimers and a guitar, the musician wanted a solo version. He reimagined it as a ‘Fantasia,’ capturing the essence without the full canon and overlapping parts.

A pair of parting thoughts...

“In evolutionary terms, the diverse features of personality represent different strategies ... for getting out of childhood alive” – Frank Sulloway

“To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are” ― Tim Minchin

That's it! Thanks for reading.

Hit reply and get in touch anytime – I love hearing from you.