Light Languages, Radical Presence and Bullshit-Free Mysticism

Interviewed by Dani Katz, 'Words (R) Matter' Creator

I met Dani Katz at the Creative Santa Fe’s Pechakucha Night back in January. We capped the presentation - me starting, and Dani ending the talk with her most appropriate topic. I deeply appreciated her presentation as well as her work to deconstruct and inform people about the power of words. Curator of Word Up, a Words (R) Matter Youtube channel, Dani is on a mission to explore and elucidate the many ways we communicate and create our reality through our language.

We met up at a cafe soon after, and I found myself talking at the pace that I prefer: East Coast pace. Not only was it refreshing to chat with someone who kept pace with my thoughts, but also open and curious to ask questions and banter - not all in agreement necessarily, but having critical thought and expression.

She invited me on to her show in March, and here’s a belated post on the interview, part one. The description of the video breaks out the topics that we discuss over the course of each hour. I recommend watching it at 1.5x speed:

Check out part II of our conversation by joining her local page here or her Patreon channel.

Finally, I recently sat in a presentation by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross - neuroscience researcher and technology designer duo - on their book, Your Brain on Art. They describe the body as a sensory organ, and how we, as creative individuals, behave and are enhanced in the process of creativity (I haven’t read the book; they talked about research data they collected and some conclusions they wrote in the book).

Episode 13 of Return to Wonder also touch on these topics, more so as an example of how, in the process and through experience, we begin to understand more deeply who we are. You can witness us revealing aspects of ourselves in the conversation, and recognizing what is unfolding in the moment.

I’m heartened to see that science and mainstream businesses are starting to recognize our physical body as an instrument; that who we are and what we have in our physicality are incredibly sophisticated, expansive and full of wonder.