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Some think of religious faith as just that: a leap of faith. But psychologists are increasingly filling in the gaps in our understanding of how beliefs shape — and are shaped by — the human mind. This week, psychologist Ara Norenzayan explores features in the brain that are tied to our capacity for faith. And he shows how all of us, both religious and non-religious people, can use this knowledge to find more meaning in our lives.

Have you ever had an unexplainable feeling of emptiness? Life seems perfect - and yet - something is missing. This week, sociologist Corey Keyes helps us understand where feelings of emptiness come from, how to navigate them and why they're more common than we might assume.

Thinking is a human superpower. On a daily basis, thinking and planning and effort bring us innumerable benefits. But like all aspects of human behavior, you can sometimes get too much of a good thing. This week, we talk with philosopher Ted Slingerland about techniques to prevent overthinking, and how we can cultivate the under-appreciated skill of letting go.

When you're cultivating a garden, how much do you direct what happens in the garden — and how much do you just let the garden be? In part two of our conversation with philosopher Ted Slingerland, we talk about the balance between preparation and spontaneity, and explore a thorny question: Is it possible to achieve effortlessness by simply being effortless? Or, paradoxically, is it only possible to get to that state through a lot of effort?

If you haven't yet heard the first part of our conversation with Ted Slingerland, we recommend you start there. It's the episode in this podcast feed called "Why Trying Too Hard Can Backfire On You." Thanks for listening!

The human drive to invent new things has led to pathbreaking achievements in medicine, science and society. But our desire to create can keep us from seeing one of the most powerful paths to progress: subtraction. In a favorite conversation from 2022, engineer Leidy Klotz shares how streamlining and simplifying is sometimes the best path to innovation.

Have you ever wondered why some companies fail, while others succeed? This week, organizational economist Raffaella Sadun reveals one of the overlooked ways that businesses can grow and help their employees to thrive.

If you've missed any of the episodes in our Innovation 2.0 series, you can find them in this podcast feed, or on our website: https://hiddenbrain.org/