Podcast
The Wonder Dome
Hosted by Andy Cahill · EN
Increasing awareness. Deepening presence. Activating wonder. To be able for the times ahead and the times already here.
wonderdome.substack.com
wonderdome.substack.com
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
#181 Patterns in the Chaos (with Rayner Jae Liu)
Dec 2301:27:26Tap to summarize“Mythology is not just humanities fluff […] it’s: do you dare to understand how things have been coded from first principles?”-Rayner Jae LiuIn a time where chaos is the word on everyone’s lips, Andy sits down with Rayner Jae Liu in a vast and reflective conversation about how humans make meaning when our familiar paradigms begin to crumble. Rayner is an evolutionary entrepreneur, executive coach, cultural psychologist, and systems strategist creating frameworks, platforms, and ecosystems that bridge inner transformation and systemic change for a complex age. He is a practitioner who moves between worlds: international relations and geopolitics, leadership development, systems and complexity theory, and mythological and archetypal thinking. In this episode, he invites us to reconsider chaos as a necessary force of disruption, revealing where our systems are no longer aligned with reality.Together, Andy and Rayner explore what it means to live at the “edge” of dominant paradigms, asking how myth functions as a form of cultural source code, shaping how societies see, speak, and act. Drawing on Greek mythology (particularly the goddess Eris), Taoist ideas of balance and rebalancing, and lived experiences within global political systems, this conversation probes how sacred disruption can catalyze discernment, transformation, and new forms of leadership."Fire" by Judy Brown What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood. When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that make fire possible We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time. A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can find its way.Show Notes: * https://raynerjaeliu.com* The New Paradigm Leadership Podcast with Rayner Jae Liu* Eris and The 21st Century | Rayner Jae Liu* Eris (mythology)* Taoist philosophy* René Descartes* Systems theoryConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#180 Through Our Neighbor's Eyes (with Christopher Spicer)
Dec 1501:19:23Tap to summarize“Convictions are beliefs strongly held. It’s responsibilities that have rebuilt societies.”-Christopher SpicerThis week, Andy is joined by friend and neighbor Christopher Spicer — a writer, father, longtime human rights advocate, and recent candidate for Somerville City Councilor At-Large. He has served as Chair of the Somerville Human Rights Commission, participated in nonviolent protest and civil disobedience, and is deeply shaped by the Catholic Worker tradition. His work centers on community listening, local democracy, and what he calls a “responsibility ethic” rooted in relationship rather than ideology.This conversation unfolds at the intersection of local politics and spiritual practice as Andy and Christopher explore what it means to practice democracy not just at the ballot box, but in the everyday acts of neighboring, listening, and showing up for one another in times of fear, instability, and profound social change. Christopher reflects on his decision to run for office amid rising authoritarianism, ICE detentions impacting families in his community, and a housing crisis reshaping the fabric of Somerville. Drawing from his work on the Somerville Human Rights Commission, his Catholic Worker roots, and years spent interviewing his neighbors block by block, Chris offers a grounded vision of civic life shaped less by ideological purity and more by responsibility, relationship, and care.from "The People, Yes" by Carl Sandburg Lincoln? He was a mystery in smoke and flags Saying yes to the smoke, yes to the flags, Yes to the paradoxes of democracy, Yes to the hopes of government Of the people by the people for the people, No to debauchery of the public mind, No to personal malice nursed and fed, Yes to the Constitution when a help, No to the Constitution when a hindrance Yes to man as a struggler amid illusions, Each man fated to answer for himself: Which of the faiths and illusions of mankind Must I choose for my own sustaining light To bring me beyond the present wilderness? Lincoln? Was he a poet? And did he write verses? “I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom.” I shall do nothing through malice: what I deal with is too vast for malice.” Death was in the air. So was birth.Show Notes:* “Bringing ‘perspective of human rights’ to council named as aspiration for at-large candidate Spicer” by Sydney Wise (Cambridge Day)* City of Somerville, MA Human Rights Commission* Catholic Worker MovementConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#179 The Art of Team Coaching (with Alexander Caillet)
Dec 501:26:10Tap to summarize“When you drop a team in the realm of process […] they’re one step closer to getting to the human dimension.”-Alexander Caillet Alexander Caillet is an internationally recognized organizational psychologist, consultant, and coach dedicated to helping organizations achieve high performance through powerful teaming. As the CEO of Corentus, Inc., Alexander has worked across more than 30 countries on five continents, bringing deep expertise in both leadership coaching and large-scale organizational transformation. Alexander makes visible the invisible dynamics and patterns that shape a team’s behavior, helping them see themselves and their operational styles with renewed clarity through blends of individual coaching with whole-team development. In this episode, Alexander traces the roots of his craft back to his own origin story: a childhood marked by constant relocation, othering, and longing for belonging. It was as a student at Columbia studying organizational psychology that he discovered his calling in group dynamics, and his experience of feeling like an outsider looking in became the foundation for a career in helping others learn to belong with each other. This is essential listening for coaches, leaders, team members, and anyone who’s ever wondered why group work often feels so hard — and how it could be so much better. "To be of use" by Marge Piercy The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. They seem to become natives of that element, the black sleek heads of seals bouncing like half-submerged balls. I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart, who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience, who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward, who do what has to be done, again and again. I want to be with people who submerge in the task, who go into the fields to harvest and work in a row and pass the bags along, who are not parlor generals and field deserters but move in a common rhythm when the food must come in or the fire be put out. The work of the world is common as mud. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well done has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident. Greek amphoras for wine or oil, Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums but you know they were made to be used. The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real.Show Notes: * https://corentus.com* The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High Performance Organization by Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. SmithConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#178 The Servant and the Shadow (with Max Klau)
Nov 2101:15:13Tap to summarize“Service to others is my spiritual home.”-Max KlauThis week Andy welcomes longtime friend, colleague, and returning Wonder Dome guest Dr. Max Klau. He’s an author, coach, developmental psychologist, and founder of the Center for Courageous Wholeness, who’s work sits at the intersection of inner development and systems change. His new book, Developing Servant Leadership at Scale: How to Do It and Why It Matters is part-memoir, part how-to guidebook that offers candid reflections on the challenges leaders face and the importance of engaging large numbers of people, both at scale and at a distance. Max’s work explores how individuals and societies can confront both their “light” and their “shadow,” especially in an era of political toxicity, rising authoritarianism, and declining trust in institutions. Together with Andy, they grapple with what true servant-leadership requires of us, both individually and collectively; how leaders can stay anchored in values when stepping into a political arena rife with ego and fear; and a vision for an American civic life grounded in courageous wholeness. "For Citizenship" by John O'Donohue In these times when anger Is turned into anxiety And someone has stolen The horizons and the mountains, Our small emperors on parade Never expect our indifference To disturb their nakedness They keep their heads down And their eyes gleam with reflection From Aluminum economic ground, The media wraps everything In a cellophane of sound, And the ghost surface of the virtual Overlays the breathing earth. The industry of distraction Makes us forget That we live in a universe We have become converts To the religion of stress And its deity of progress That we may have courage To turn aside from it all And come to kneel down before the poor, To discover what we must do, How to turn anxiety Back into anger, How to find our way home.Show Notes:* https://www.maxklau.com* https://www.centerforcourageouswholeness.org* #33 The Inner Flame (with Max Klau)* Developing Servant Leaders at Scale: How to Do It and Why It Matters by Max Klau* Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness by Robert K. GreenleafConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#177 Wholehearted Parenting (with Ariane de Bonvoisin)
Nov 1401:12:13Tap to summarize“In what way am I an example? In what way am I a warning?”-Ariane de BonvoisinAriane de Bonvoisin is a best-selling author, international speaker, entrepreneur, and change optimist. She is a renowned expert in leadership, change, and personal transformation with a global audience, speaking and coaching at major companies such as Google, Twitter, Morgan Stanley and more, bringing practical tools for resilience, energy management, and leading through transition.In this conversation, Ariane and Andy delve into the world of parenting; the significance of imbuing our approach to raising children with compassion, non-judgment, and an empathetic normalization of what makes us human. Through exploration of both the inner and outer worlds of ourselves and our children, and a willingness to allow our children to see themselves through us rather than looking at us for pre-prescribed expectations of how to be, we may better uplift them in their lifelong journeys of self-discovery. “Throwing Children” by Ross Gay It is really something when a kid who has a hard time becomes a kid who’s having a good time in no small part thanks to you throwing that kid in the air again and again on a mile long walk home from the Indian joint as her mom looks sideways at you like you don’t need to keep doing this because you’re pouring with sweat and breathing a little bit now you’re getting a good workout but because the kid laughs like a horse up there laughs like a kangaroo beating her wings against the light because she laughs like a happy little kid and when coming down and grabbing your forearm to brace herself for the time when you will drop her which you don’t and slides her hand into yours as she says for the fortieth time the fiftieth time inexhaustible her delight again again again and again and you say give me til the redbud tree or give me til the persimmon tree because she knows the trees and so quiet you almost can’t hear through her giggles she says ok til the next tree when she explodes howling yanking your arm from the socket again again all the wolves and mourning doves flying from her tiny throat and you throw her so high she lives up there in the tree for a minute she notices the ants organizing on the bark and a bumblebee carousing the little unripe persimmon in its beret she laughs and laughs as she hovers up there like a bumblebee like a hummingbird up there giggling in the light like a giddy little girl up there the world knows how to love. Show Notes:* https://www.arianedebonvoisin.com* TED Talk: The Skills We Need to Teach Our Kids by Ariane de Bonvoisin* KidQuest* Interview: The Three Levels of Trust in Parenting* Interview: How to Raise Children Who Embrace Change* “5 Things We Most Project Onto Our Kids” by Ariane de Bonvoisin for Psychology Today* “Learning to Trust Your Child and Yourself” by Ariane de Bonvoisin for Psychology Today* “Ariane de Bonvoisin: The Executive Coach Leaders Call to Help Navigate Change and Uncertainty” by Lindsay Jeffords for NY WeeklyConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#176 The Initiatory Path (with Josh Schrei)
Nov 701:22:39Tap to summarize“We’ve worshipped a hungry monster. And the more you feed and worship a hungry monster, the hungrier it gets.”-Josh SchreiThis week we welcome Josh Schrei — storyteller, mythologist, and creator of The Mythic Body. As host of The Emerald podcast, Josh shepherds listeners through explorations of our modern world through a vibrant lens of mythos, music and mindfulness. His work is a salve for modern wounds, using song and story to help us de-center the “hungry monster” of consumerism and bring us back to the sacred, animate center of the living world. Josh and Andy trace a path back to the core truths we’ve forgotten in our contemporary times — that humanity’s innate desire for transcendence can be found not in the hungry maw of capitalism that encourages our relentless consumption, but in a return to ritual, presence, and belonging. "Remember" by Joy Harjo Remember the sky that you were born under, know each of the star’s stories. Remember the moon, know who she is. Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the strongest point of time. Remember sundown and the giving away to night. Remember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath. You are evidence of her life, and her mother’s, and hers. Remember your father. He is your life, also. Remember the earth whose skin you are: red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth brown earth, we are earth. Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems. Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the origin of this universe. Remember you are all people and all people are you. Remember you are this universe and this universe is you. Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you. Remember language comes from this. Remember the dance language is, that life is. Remember.Show Notes:* The Mythic Body* The Emerald Podcast with Josh Schrei* Let Us Sing of the Syncretic Gods of Outcasts and Wanderers* For the Intuitives (Part One)Connect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#175 Sacred Activism (with Nina Simons and Deborah Eden Tull)
Nov 201:15:42Tap to summarize“What if we served from what we love rather than what we’re against?”-Nina SimonsWelcoming back two brilliant past guests of the Wonder Dome this week with Nina Simons (co-founder of Bioneers and author of Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership) and Deborah Eden Tull (founder of Mindful Living Revolution and author of Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown.) “Sacred activism,” Eden says, “is a fusion with the mystic’s passion for God with the activist’s passion for justice — creating a third fire, the burning sacred heart that longs to help preserve and nurture every living thing.” A practice that integrates the connective tissue of inner transformation with outer engagement. With Andy, Nina and Eden delve into how to respond to ecological breakdown, political polarization, and personal loss not with despair, but with love and relational awareness, inviting us to see community and interbeing as the grounding force that holds us through times of crisis and possibility. Together, Nina and Eden are launching a live online course called Sacred Activism: Meeting Our Challenges as Gateways for Embodying Connection beginning on November 13, 2025. To learn more and join this cohort exploring sacred activism as “a living practice that draws from your own lived experience, challenges, and discoveries,” visit this link. "Lost" by David Wagoner Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here, And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, Must ask permission to know it and be known. The forest breathes. Listen. It answers, I have made this place around you. If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here. No two trees are the same to Raven. No two branches are the same to Wren. If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you, You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows Where you are. You must let it find you. Show Notes:* https://www.ninasimons.com* https://www.deborahedentull.com* #111 Nature, Culture, and the Sacred (with Nina Simons)* #142 Luminous Darkness (with Deborah Eden Tull)* https://www.bioneers.org* Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership by Nina Simons* Luminous Darkness: An Engaged Buddhist Approach to Embracing the Unknown by Deborah Eden Tull* Sacred Activism: Meeting Our Challenges as Gateways for Embodying Connection with Nina Simons and Deborah Eden Tull* Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames by Thich Nhat Hanh* The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism by Andrew Harvey* Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone* The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems by Fritjof CapraConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#174 Radical Listening (with Robert Biswas-Diener and Christian van Nieuwerburgh)
Oct 2401:11:48Tap to summarize“Radical listening gives us agency — it’s something we can still do even when everything feels uncertain.”- Christian van NieuwerburghRobert Biswas-Diener and Christian van Nieuwerburgh, two distinguished voices in coaching, positive psychology, and leadership, join Andy to explore the radical and joyful art of listening.As co-authors of Radical Listening: The Art of True Connection, Robert and Christian provide a framework for cultivating this most vital (and often neglected) skill. In an increasingly divisive, distracted, and digitized world, it’s never been more essential to harness the power of listening beyond a means of simply hearing words, but to co-create meaning and connection.In this episode, you’ll learn why “active listening” as we know it may not be enough; the traps of certainty and comparison; and how curiosity, humility, and a sense of play can deepen our connections and help us listen with intention."Generous Listening" by Marilyn Nelson A conversation can be a contest, or a game of catch with invisible balloons. They bounce between us, growing and shrinking, sometimes floating like cloud medicine balls, and sometimes bowling at us like round anvils. You toss a phrase and understanding blooms like an anemone of colored lights. My mind fireworks with unasked questions. Who is this miracle speaking to me? And who is this miracle listening? What amazingness are we creating? Out of gray matter a star spark of thought leaps between synapses into the air, and pours through gray matter, into my heart: how can I not listen generously?Show Notes:* https://robertdiener.com/* https://coachonamotorcycle.com/* Radical Listening: The Art of True Connection by Christian van Nieuwerburgh and Robert Biswas-Diener* #162 Positive Provocation (with Robert Biswas-Diener)Connect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#173 Getting More Right Than Wrong (with Saul Humphrey)
Oct 1701:08:41Tap to summarize“We need an abundance of the things we need — safe homes, good jobs, healthcare — not an abundance of consumption.”- Saul HumphreySaul Humphrey is a UK-based leader and sustainability advocate, a professor of sustainable construction at Anglia Ruskin University, and Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Building. He’s also the founder of an eponymously named consultancy practice that integrates sustainable design with practical innovation. The arc of his career bends towards reducing carbon impact and creating long-term resilience in the built environment.With both realism and hope, Saul and Andy explore the tension between growth and sustainability; what “abundance” means in an ever-warming world; how our built environment shapes our collective destiny; and how we can reimagine construction as an act of care for future generations."Design" by A.R. Ammons The drop seeps whole from boulder-lichen or ledge moss and drops, joining, to trickle, run, fall, dash, sprawl in held deeps, to rush shallows, spill thin through heights, but then, edging, to eddy aside, nothing of all but nothing’s curl of motion spent.Show Notes:* https://www.sauldhumphrey.com* https://www.ciob.org* https://www.humannature-places.com* Values: Building a Better World for All by Mark Carney* Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think by Peter H. Diamonds and Steven Kotler* Kuni: A Japanese Vision and Practice for Urban-Rural Reconnection by Tsuyoshi Sekihara, Richard McCarthy, and Kathleen Finlay* #148 It Makes a Village (with Jonathan Smales)* #157 Eco-Responsive Envrionments (with Soham De & Prachi Rampuria)* #158 The Neutral Project (with Nate Helbach)Connect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →
#172 The Oracle in Your Dreams (with Martin Boroson)
Oct 1001:17:59Tap to summarize“Your dream is a film written and directed by the real you.”-Martin BorosonWhat if every night, while you sleep, a deeper part of you is trying to speak?In this conversation, executive coach, psychotherapist, and Zen priest Martin Boroson joins Andy to explore the art of listening to that voice — the dreaming mind.Martin invites us to consider dreams as nightly messages from the larger intelligence that lives through us — not random noise, but a form of guidance. He describes the unconscious as “a vast storehouse of wisdom”, a living field of knowing we can access through the body, imagination, and attention. Together, he and Andy wander through questions of consciousness, creativity, and leadership in a polarized world — asking what might happen if we let our dreams shape how we act, lead, and love.What emerges is a portrait of the psyche as both profoundly personal and beautifully collective. The unconscious, Marty suggests, is not just in us — it’s between us, whispering the next small, luminous step toward wholeness.Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Unlock the transformational power of your dreams in coaching with Marty’s upcoming workshop, Waking UP to Dreams. Cohorts start November 2025, February 2026, and September 2026 with weekly classes held on Zoom. "The Dream Keeper" by Langston Hughes Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamers, Bring me all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too-rough fingers Of the world.Show Notes: * www.martinboroson.com* www.onemomentcompany.com* Waking UP to Dreams - a masterclass for coaches* One Moment Meditation: Stillness for People on the Go by Martin Boroson* Jung on the Transcendent Function* www.nextpracticeinstitute.comConnect with Andy:* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcastWhat is your fiercest hope for humanity? Get full access to Wonder Dome at wonderdome.substack.com/subscribe
Transcribe →