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Hey friends,
I’ve been thinking lately about a deep contradiction that sits quietly at the heart of any community.
However wide the circle we draw, it still says: this is who we are. And that simple act of drawing a circle — of offering belonging — is also, inevitably, an act of exclusion.
If we’re not careful, belonging curdles into sameness.
As Grokkist grows, I find myself sitting with the tension this creates: how do we nurture connection without collapsing into comfort?
One of the most beautiful — and most fragile — things about community is that it lives in the space between tension and release. Too much tension, and it snaps. Too much release, and it dissolves into ease without depth.
What we’re building here — or perhaps more accurately, what’s building itself through us — is not a club of like-minded people.
It’s something more daring: a gathering of like-hearted people.
Rather than gathering people who think alike, we’re gathering people whose hearts are tuned to curiosity, care, playfulness, and exploration — even if their notes differ wildly. In music, harmony comes from difference, not uniformity. And dissonance, held with intention, creates movement and depth.
The question I’m sitting with is this: How do we design spaces that are strong enough to hold dissonance and soft enough to invite harmony?
It’s a tension that belongs not just to community design, but to life. In music, dissonance isn’t a flaw — it’s what creates movement, texture, and depth. Resolution without dissonance is dull; dissonance without resolution is chaos. The art lies in knowing how to hold both.
As network weavers, this is part of our responsibility: to create spaces where conflict can be generative rather than destructive, where difference is not just tolerated but cherished, and where loving encounters with the unfamiliar can sit alongside reassuring touches of the familiar.
Spaces that are psychologically safe enough to disagree, to be uncertain, to stretch — and to return, enriched.
I’ve written before about generative conflict and making the contours of our disagreements more legible to each other. But at the core of all of this is trust — and an understanding that what anchors us isn’t shared opinions, but shared heart.
Like-heartedness is what allows us to hold complexity without collapsing into either rigidity or mush. It’s what makes it possible for each of us to remain a category of one, while still feeling part of something larger.
As Grokkist grows, this will only become more important. We’ll keep asking ourselves: What does it mean to belong here, without becoming the same?
I’d love to hear how you think about holding space for difference, and what helps you stay open in the face of dissonance.
As ever, let’s keep playing with the notes — even the strange ones.
With curiosity and care,
Danu
Grokkist Press
A home for creations that matter, where grokkists publish gifts of wisdom and creativity that inspire, challenge, and invite deeper connection.
Visit the Press ↗When someone is brilliant in a way they weren’t supposed to be.
Discover more luminous phrases in the Glossary of Grokkistry
Fresh from the Press
The Philosophy You Think You Have, and the One That Has You
By Jessica Böhme (8 min read)
Your unexamined philosophy may be quietly shrinking your world. Here’s how to begin tending it as a living, breathing worldview instead.
Falling in Trust
By Peter Gilderdale (4 min read)
We talk about falling in love, but rarely about falling in trust — even though trust shapes the texture of every relationship that thrives or falters.
More from the Press
- Warp and Weft (Peter Gilderdale, 4 min read) – A university should be a place where knowledge is woven together, not just pulled apart into individual threads. But what happens when the weft starts to fray?
You can also read our guide to learn how the Grokkist Press works and how to get involved.
Grokkist Network
Connect across disciplines, generations, and geographies in Grokkist’s global community—a true speakeasy for the soul.
Visit the Network ↗Upcoming Events
Events Access Key
🟢 Open Access: Free and open to all.
🟣 Member Access: Exclusive to Grokkist Members.
🟠 Ticketed Access: Open to all with a cover charge (members enjoy a 30% discount).
For more info, check the guide to our events and gatherings or this guide if you're interested in hosting an event of your own.
🟢 Anti-Cult Blueprint: Reclaiming Belonging in a Disconnected Society
🗓️ Tue 25 Mar | 7–9pm CT (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Hazel Sage
What makes a cult? And what might a ‘good’ anti-cult look like? In a world where we are increasingly disconnected—from each other, from ourselves, and from the natural world—thinking for yourself might just be the most rebellious act of all.
But how do we create radical spaces that question assumptions without becoming dogmatic? How do we balance the power of collective action with the freedom of independent thought? And if we were to design a ‘good’ anti-cult, what would it look like?
🟣 Grokkist Members Meetup [Mar '25]
🗓️ Fri 28 Mar | 12–1.30pm NZDT (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Danu Poyner
Grokkist Members Meetup is a member-only gathering designed to help you connect with fellow grokkists, explore meaningful questions, and reflect on where you’re at in your journey. [Click here for membership options]
Each session revolves around a beautiful question that sparks reflection and connection, providing space to make sense of your experiences and deepen bonds within the Grokkist community.
Today's Beautiful Question:
"What would you try next if you knew you could not fail?"
Other Upcoming Events
- 10 Apr | 🟠 Neurographica: Drawing into Possibility
- 15 Apr | 🟢 Grokkist Town Hall – Q2-2025
- 23 Apr | 🟢 Solarpunk and the Power of Visionary Fiction
- 30 Apr | 🟢 Open For Whom? A grokkist's guide to accessing Open Access
- 7 May | 🟢 Grok Cafe [#3 in 2025]
Grokkist Academy
Life-changing learning experiences designed to set your soul on fire and help you level up as a grokkist.
Visit the Academy ↗Featured Course
Intro to Neurographica
Transform your inner landscape through intuitive drawing.
Have you ever wished for a way to shift your emotional state—right in the moment—without needing a breakthrough or a big solution? Neurographica offers a uniquely powerful tool for gaining clarity and transforming inner tension through the simple act of drawing. No artistic skills required.
Self-paced video course
33 topics over 6 phases | Total duration: 1 hr 35 min
🔖 Suggested Tuition: USD$40* (30% off for Grokkist Members)
(*Can't afford it? Don't worry. Our Forget About the Price Tag policy ensures this course is open to everyone, regardless of budget.)
🍬 Snackables
A curated collection of hand-picked inspirations—thought-provoking reads, engaging ideas, and creative sparks to nurture your curiosity and expand your perspective.
#1 - 13.8 billion years laid out on a lakebed
If you’re someone who naturally thinks in deep time—or sometimes need a reminder to zoom all the way out—this is a gift. To Scale is an ongoing project that turns mind-bending cosmic scales into tangible, physical experiences. They’ve built scale models of the solar system, the speed of light, and here: the entirety of cosmic history.
In this 10-minute film, they map out 13.8 billion years of evolution, step by step, across a dry lakebed in the Mojave. What unfolds is a quiet, spacious meditation on vastness and our fleeting moment within it. The final steps on their line correspond to all of human civilization. They’ve also created a printable chart that distills the model, if you’d like to hold deep time in your hands.
#2 - Fertility on demand
Ruxandra Teslo
Stripe (yes, the payments company) quietly publishes Works in Progress, an impressively thoughtful online magazine exploring ideas that shape the future — practical, imaginative, and grounded in real-world possibility.
In this piece, Ruxandra Teslo, who describes her work as pro-progress, anti-safetyist commentary aiming to cultivate optimism, abundance, and freedom asks: What if having children was as easy and accessible as deciding to have them — no ticking clocks, no waiting for the “right” moment? She explores the cutting edge of fertility science and what it would take to make fertility truly on-demand — not just in technology, but in how we design policy, culture, and institutions.
It’s one part scientific briefing, one part cultural provocation, and a reminder that sometimes what feels fixed is only waiting for someone to ask a better question.
#3 - Did you hear about Alex?
Katie Strick
This new podcast from The Standard tells the story of Alex Morgan, whose life was taken at 23 years old in an act of casual violence by someone with power and privilege. But this isn’t just a true crime story. It’s a window into the raw, layered reality of grief — the kind you don’t move past, but learn to live with and carry.
Katja Faber, Alex’s mother — and a member of our Grokkist community — has spent years transforming unspeakable pain into thoughtful public advocacy and writing. Her work explores how grief reshapes the body, mind, and spirit, and how nature can become a quiet companion in the work of slowly reorienting toward life.
This podcast, and Katja’s reflections around it, offer no easy conclusions — only an invitation to witness, to feel, and perhaps to reflect on how we meet our own moments of loss and care for others in theirs. (🙏 Katja F)
#4 - A handy tool for reading paywalled articles
Ever found yourself clicking on a link only to be blocked by a paywall after reading the first paragraph? 12ft.io offers a simple workaround — its tagline: “Show me a 10ft paywall, I’ll show you a 12ft ladder.” It works by stripping away the paywall overlay on many sites, letting you access the full text with a simple paste-and-go. It doesn’t work for every publication (and some have blocked it), but when it works, it works like magic. Just paste in the URL and see if it opens.
#5 - Patterns that breathe – Dana Piazza's visual art
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Dana Piazza uses nothing more than pens or paintbrushes to create intricate patterns that seem to ripple, twist, and undulate on the page. His drawings are deceptively simple at first glance — often just lines or dots — but the cumulative effect is mesmerizing, offering an illusion of movement and depth that pulls you in. There’s a meditative quality to his process, and you can feel it in the finished pieces. Explore more of his work at his website or on Insta.
If this already feels like home, membership is just making yourself comfortable.
As a Grokkist Member, you’re part of a circle of active grokkists walking the grokkist path. Find out more here.
Membership benefits include:
- 🟣 Member-Only Gatherings
- 🚪 Unlock Your Grok - Self-Paced Course
- ❤️🔥 30% Discount on Courses & Ticketed Events
- 🎭 Featured Member Profile
- 📣 Post Calls & Invitations
- ✨ Early Access & Prototypes
- ▶️ Events Recording Library
- ⭐️ Digital Member Badge
A pair of parting thoughts...
“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” – GK Chesterton
“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.” – Terry Pratchett
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