Welcome to Awedacious Ideas, a summary of what we’re reading, listening to and contemplating as we build a case for awe in the change-making space.
If you’re new here, we’re so glad we’ve serendipitously landed in your inbox!
This week’s recap
Plants can make music. In our most recent interview with biofield musician Shane Mendonsa, we explored the wild world of more-than-human creative collaborations.
We delved deeper into the awe-filled world of interspecies creativity. At its core, more-than-human collaboration is an act of decolonizing perspective, challenging the narrative of humans being the only main characters of the story of this planet. Read more here.
We’re heading to Olso, Norway! We’re joining up with Katapult Future Fest to explore how awe connects to the impact investment landscape. Two unlikely words in the same sentence. More to come… But for now, we’re stoked to join their events in May!
What we’re reading
In Light-Years There's No Hurry: Cosmic Perspectives on Everyday Life by Marjolijn van Heemstra
“Could it be that our lost view of the stars has blocked out our view of the future? That our everyday hustle and bustle, the stress, the artificial lights, are so ever-present that we, slowly but surely, can’t imagine anything except this frenetic, infinitely recurring here and now? A constant battle for those few square feet in our field of vision? Could it be that we experience more brokenness because there’s no more darkness into which our differences can dissolve? Darkness in which borders become visible, where we can breathe, and where we can step back form everything we so resolutely stand for in daylight?”
This week we recorded an episode of Awe Effect with author Marjolijn van Heemstra, and we can’t wait for you to hear it. It’s an ode to all we cannot see. Check out her book here.
What we’ve been listening to
I often work from a café down my street. It’s my favorite spot because many musicians practice there, performing short sets of music, testing new material on a relaxed audience of coffee sippers and laptops.
Yesterday, someone struck up a conversation with me as I wrote this Substack post. I told them about awe and why I’m so utterly convinced it’s power to contribute to systems change.
He immediately referenced Hania Rani - a polish pianist and composer that I had never heard of. To him, this specific music video was a waterfall of awe.