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In this second installment of "The Problem with Problems" series, hosts Marti Spiegelman and Todd Hoskins explore how our dualistic worldview impacts our sense of belonging. They discuss how a binary "either/or" perspective shrinks our awareness to two dimensions, forcing us to see ourselves as either included or excluded, which fundamentally limits our creative capacity and connection to the world.

Marti and Todd propose that true belonging isn't about fitting in with specific groups but rather about recognizing our inherent membership in the greater whole—the living universe. They suggest that when we shift our awareness away from self-reference and into direct sensory experience of the world around us, we can discover that belonging is already guaranteed and unconditional.

Throughout their conversation, Marti and Todd look into how this shift in orientation transforms our relationship with problems, creativity, and collective action. They explore how indigenous cultures maintain connections to something larger than ego structures and how our modern disconnection from Nature places excessive pressure on human relationships for validation.

The episode concludes with Todd's potentialities essay on "Sinuosity"—the value of winding, responsive paths versus our cultural obsession with directness and efficiency—and how embracing our natural rhythms might lead to more authentic ways of being in the world.

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In this episode, Marti and Todd begin a new three-part series exploring "The Problem With Problems," focusing first on the worldview that centers around problems and solutions. They open with a revealing story about forest management, where the seemingly simple solution to prevent all forest fires actually created the conditions for far more devastating blazes – a perfect illustration of how our problem-solution mindset often backfires in complex living systems.

The conversation delves into how deeply we've embedded this problem-solving reflex in modern life. From business to healthcare to personal development, we've trained ourselves to see challenges primarily as problems needing fixes. But what if this very worldview is limiting our ability to thrive in a complex world?

Drawing from original human wisdom, Marti and Todd invite us to consider a different way of being – one where we participate in living systems rather than trying to control them. They explore how our sense of belonging shifts when we stop looking for problems everywhere and instead experience our membership in the world around us.

This thought-provoking conversation challenges us to reconsider the problem-solution paradigm that has shaped our modern world and encourages us to explore more expansive, creative ways of engaging with life's challenges and possibilities.

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In the final episode of their climate consciousness series, Marti and Todd welcome Liz Carlisle, associate professor at UC Santa Barbara and author of "Healing Grounds: Climate Justice and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming." They explore the essential relationship between human consciousness and agriculture through the lens of indigenous wisdom and regenerative farming practices. Carlisle shares insights learned from women farmers and indigenous leaders about the importance of putting "roots in the ground all year round" - both literally in farming practices and metaphorically in how we approach our relationship with the land. The conversation delves into how regenerative agriculture isn't just about carbon sequestration, but about healing our relationship with the earth and each other through practices that give back to the land rather than simply taking from it. The hosts and guest discuss the potential for regional food systems to scale out (rather than up) regenerative practices, and how everyone - even those not directly involved in farming - can participate in healing our relationship with the planet. The episode concludes with the new "Potentialities" segment, replacing the previous "Conscious Rant," where Todd shares observations from a regenerating forest in Costa Rica as a metaphor for how consciousness in leadership can create conditions for sustainable transformation.