“Mythology is not just humanity’s fluff […] it’s: do you dare to understand how things have been coded from first principles?”

-Rayner Jae Liu

In 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 Rainer 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 Jai Liu

* Eris and The 21st Century | Rayner Jae Liu

* Eris (mythology)

* Taoist philosophy

* René Descartes

* Systems theory

Connect with Andy:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

“Convictions are beliefs strongly held. It’s responsibilities that have rebuilt societies.”

-Christopher Spicer

This 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 Movement

Connect with Andy:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

What is your fiercest hope for humanity?

“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. Smith

Connect with Andy:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjcahill/

* Instagram: https://instagram.com/wonderdomepodcast​

What is your fiercest hope for humanity?