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Hey friends,
One of the joys of being on the road in Europe this summer has been visiting grokkists in their own places.
This week I caught up with Alan Raw, author of Salt & Seeds—the first book to come out of the Grokkist Press—and we spent time in Whitby in North Yorkshire, the town where the book is set.
Alan imagines Whitby in a near future where rising seas have drowned much of the town, leaving people to adapt among pontoons, houseboats, and marine gardens. And yet the abbey still stands, a silent witness to centuries of change.
Standing there with Alan, looking at that same abbey, I felt what his book makes so vivid: how life always finds ways to adapt, even in salt-poisoned ground, and how communities can thrive in the cracks of collapse.
And in the Press this cycle you can experience how Alan has been taking that message on the road with his Euro Book Trek, bringing Salt & Seeds into conversation with readers across the continent.
Back in the Grokkist Network, we’re seeing that same spirit of adaptation take form in new Affinity Groups.
Jes has reopened the PhilosophyGym, a place to stretch your thinking muscles and practice staying supple in the face of uncertainty.
Nathan is launching the Digital Ethics Collective, gathering people around the question of how to live—and live well—within the accelerating swirl of technological change. To kick things off, Jasmine has offered up a chewy provocation about how Claude the AI fell in love with her in We Have Already Forgotten How Weird This All Is.
Our affinity groups are more than discussion circles; they are micro-communities where help flows sideways, wrapped in curiosity and shared purpose.
That’s the groksmithing spirit at work: encouragement more than advice, presence that unlocks possibility, carrying what’s heavy until others are strong enough to take it back.
Whether it’s citizen-scientists in Salt & Seeds finding green shoots in poisoned soil, or grokkists creating small constellations of practice in philosophy or digital ethics, the pattern is the same.
The real work isn’t “helping people” directly—it’s creating the conditions where help becomes possible, bearable, and wanted.
With curiosity and care,
Danu
If you’re standing at a threshold in your own story, this space is built for you.
I support myself through Groksmithing and Grokkist Projects — hands-on, relational work that helps people make sense of where they are and take practical steps toward what’s next. Sometimes that looks like structured guidance, sometimes like rolling up our sleeves together.
The whole Grokkist ecosystem runs on Memberships — a gentle invitation to belong, and a way to sustain the work. Curious about the deeper why behind it all? Start here.
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 ↗The practice of expressing your truth clearly and confidently in context—with voice, care, and impact. Shoes-on communication is how your inner clarity takes shape in the world as language that lands for real people, in real situations, with real stakes.
Read on for a deeper explanation or discover more luminous phrases in the Glossary of Grokkistry.
Fresh and Featured Pressings
We Have Already Forgotten How Weird This All Is
By Jasmine Samra (7 min read)
Can we meet AI’s strangeness with care?
Euro Book Trek: Part 1
By Alan Raw (19 min read)
A literary and climate-themed journey through Europe, one bookshop at a time.
More from the Press
- The dark side of Liberal education (Peter Gilderdale, 4 min read) – When choice comes at the cost of community, we may need to reconsider what freedom truly means to us.
- Habitual change or changing habits (Peter Gilderdale, 4 min read) – When change is the status quo, how do we know if we're changing for the better?
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.
🟢 Feeling into Ren Xue: Pulling Qi, Finding Centre
🗓️ Thur 28 Aug | 5.30pm–7pm Central European Time (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Nadya Kovalenko
In this Grok Talk, Nadya Kovalenko invites us into her ongoing journey with Ren Xue, a holistic system of life cultivation rooted in ancient Chinese wisdom. Originally drawn to it as part of her search for healing and deeper awareness, Nadya discovered not just a method, but a transformative way of relating to self, body, and the world—one that brings ancient philosophy into deeply practical, personal territory.
Through storytelling, reflection, and a simple guided exercise in pulling Qi, you’ll get a taste of what it’s like to gather and integrate life force energy—gently returning your attention to the body, and to your own inner compass.
No prior experience is needed—just curiosity, openness, and a willingness to explore the subtle but tangible shifts that happen when we bring our awareness back into the body.
🟢 In Every Complaint is the Seed of a Wish
🗓️ Tue 2 Sep | 7pm–8.30pm UK Time (view in your timezone)
Facilitated by Margarita Steinberg
We all know the feeling of being stuck. It shows up in complaints, frustrations, or that sense of walking the same circle again and again. We analyse it, push against it, even resign ourselves to it. And yet—nothing shifts. In this Grok Talk, Margarita Steinberg offers a fresh frame: what if being stuck isn’t about “breaking through” or “figuring it out,” but about noticing the wish hidden underneath the problem?
What if the real question isn’t why am I stuck? but what would I like to happen instead—and what would it be like to follow that trail?
Drawing on years of reflection and practice, Margarita shares her distilled wisdom on:
- the hidden patterns that keep us circling in place
- why clarity on how we got here isn’t always enough to move forward
- how to notice the wish inside the complaint — and how to help it grow
This is an invitation to see stuckness differently—to recognise it as a signal rather than a dead end, and to leave with a clearer sense of what movement could look like, when the time is right.
Other Upcoming Events
- 26 Aug | 🟢 Grok Cafe [#6 in 2025]
- 1 Sep | 🟢 Grokkist Writing Salon – September 2025
- 8 Sep | 🟣 Seed of a Wish: from complaint to "Yes Please"
- 9 Sep | 🟢 AI & U - A Discussion of AI Relationality
- 11 Sep | 🟠 Future Self Now: Meet the You Who Knows
🍬 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 - Marble-powered musical instruments
Music meets engineering. Wintergatan is a Swedish band that blends folk instruments with homemade mechanical contraptions, including the Marble Machine, a hand-cranked wooden device where 2,000 steel balls cascade through levers and funnels to pluck bass strings, strike vibraphones, and drive percussion. The result is music as engineering spectacle—a kind of kinetic poetry where sound is literally set in motion. Frontman Martin Molin has since spent years documenting his attempt to build the Marble Machine X—a fully reliable, tour-ready version. The project has become a saga of obsessive iteration: design breakthroughs, dead ends, rebuilds, and creativity as a long experiment in patience, play, and precision. (🙏 Simon D)
#2 - Royal Sex Betwixt the Sheets
Amy Irvine
Betwixt the Sheets, hosted by historian Kate Lister, is a podcast that delights in exploring the hidden, bawdy, and playful side of the past. Think: the surprising politics of vibrators, the history of pubic hair, or how medieval people thought about masturbation. One particular mini-series, Royal Sex takes up the question: how did monarchs’ sex lives shape the course of history? In the Cleopatra episode, Lister teams up with Egyptologist Sarah Parcak to peel back the layers of myth—did Cleopatra have a bee-powered vibrator? Why did she marry both of her brothers? And how serious were her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony? Was she really the seductress Rome made her out to be, or something far more interesting? For those who like their history with both scholarship and a smirk. (🙏 Arie H)
#3 - Engaging with the Manosphere
The manosphere is less a community than a tangled web of subcultures—pick-up artists peddling manipulation, incels locked in nihilism, lifestyle gurus selling “alpha” masculinity, and men’s rights activists railing against feminism. "While all groups within the network share a misogynistic framework which treats women as inferior, they are often critical or even antagonistic towards each other." This explainer walks through the key factions, the myths and metaphors they share, and how these once-fringe beliefs are bleeding into the mainstream. It’s a sharp map of a landscape that’s shaping how a generation of boys encounter questions of gender, identity, and belonging online. For a UK-specific angle on how young people are encountering this content, see also Ofcom’s recent research report.
#4 - How to grow human bones
Carly Anne York
The first recorded bone graft happened in 1668, when a Dutch doctor placed a piece of dog skull into a soldier’s shattered head. The surgery worked—but the church excommunicated the soldier for being “part dog.” Since then, bone grafts have come a long way and this article traces the steps along the way. The turning point came when a marine geologist peered through a scanning electron microscope at coral and saw what engineers had been missing: a perfect natural scaffold that looked uncannily like human bone. “Nature had already built the perfect scaffold; it just took a few curious minds, from scuba divers to surgeons, to recognize it.” Today, tens of thousands of patients walk around with coral-derived bone grafts.
#5 - Live nature cams around the world
Sometimes the best way to remember you’re part of something bigger is simply to watch. Explore.org hosts hundreds of livecams that beam the world’s beauty straight to your screen: salmon leaping into the jaws of Alaskan grizzlies, elephants at a watering hole in Africa, or a litter of service-dog puppies tumbling over each other in play. The cameras aren’t narrated or edited. They just run. Which means you can catch the rhythms of other lives, human and nonhuman, and slip in and out of them without needing to explain or interfere.
Membership Benefits
As a Grokkist Member, you’re part of a circle of active grokkists walking the grokkist path. Here’s what membership includes:
- 🟣 Member-Only Gatherings
- 🧩 Three Self-Guided Courses (Red Thread, Ecosophy, ADHD Meditation)
- 🍲 One ‘Quick Win’ Session per Year
- 🛠 Ongoing Groksmithing Project Support at Member Rates
- 📚 Free eBooks from Grokkist Press
- ❤️🔥 30% Discount on Courses and Ticketed Events
- 🎭 Featured Member Profile
- 📣 Post Calls, Invitations, and Events
- ✨ Early Access to Pilots and Prototypes
- ▶️ Events Recording Library
- ⭐️ Digital Member Badge
👉 Your membership also helps fund the operating costs of Grokkist and supports community-led projects and initiatives.
A pair of parting thoughts...
“You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.” ― Robin Williams
“It’s never too late to gain a happy childhood.” ― Peter Høeg
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