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Why would someone who has never considered themselves spiritual until now even consider tapping into their spirituality? Why would he do that? The data is so clear it is overwhelming. A strong spiritual life is an 80% protection against addictions and a 90% protection against depression when we are at high risk. It offers 82% protection against the epidemic of our times, which tragically is suicide. A young person is more likely to die by suicide than by what used to be the leading cause of death: car accidents.
We have an epidemic of the disease of despair in most post-industrial countries, yet we also have the antidote, which consists in strengthening the muscle of our natural spiritual awareness. Tell me about the connection between spirituality and depression. What does a person with a spiritual life do to be less depressed? Depression is often seen as just a medical illness, but this is actually a mistake. Very often people say: you know, I suffer from depression or addiction. It's a medical-biological condition of my brain.
Spirituality is something else. It's something ethereal. In fact, spirituality has circuits in the brain. Every deep human ability has circuits in the brain. The question is: How can we strengthen our natural spirituality, body, mind and soul, brain, mind and spirit How can we reawaken our brains to overcome depression and addiction and move toward a deeper understanding of life? Depression is often a knock on the door of a spiritual awakening. Depression doesn't mean we're off track. Depression means we are on the right path.
Anxiety, and even trauma, can be the first step toward looking more deeply at life, broadening our perspective, beginning to sense a presence in our hearts, and valuing our inner knowing. Suffering makes us more sensitive. Suffering pushes us to ask bigger questions. Ultimately, suffering broadens our vision and suddenly we see, we let into the opening, a frequency of light that we had never seen before, namely the fact that every single moment of our life is wrapped in divinity. From a scientific perspective, when depression is addressed with a spiritual response, one asks: Which God are you asking me about? What higher power are you revealing to me? How could I
love more deeply despite betrayal? How could I forgive and thus free myself from the trap of anger? When we cultivate a spiritual response to depression, grief, or betrayal, we literally strengthen the regions of the brain dedicated to spiritual awareness. Next time, when another storm comes and I encounter depression, despair, betrayal, a spiritual response will already be built and ready in my brain. We are increasingly able to face life's challenges with a spiritual way of knowing. The most exciting discovery in science, I think, is that just as the brain is wired to perceive, we are loved, supported, guided, and never alone.
We are made to perceive something real, namely that the nature of life reveals itself to be loving, supporting us, guiding us, and never leaving us alone. It is simply up to us, then, to strengthen our perception. Every day of our lives, we have the opportunity to be in deep dialogue with the divinity in life. But we need to build the muscle of spiritual awareness. We need to wake up our brains. What about those who say: I don't have time for spirituality? I don't really need it. I'm fine like this. What are they missing? On the one hand, spirituality protects against some of the most widespread forms of suffering today: depression,
addiction, even suicide. But even if it weren't for its mental health benefits, spirituality itself opens two doors to a completely different journey in life If you want to roll out the red carpet in your life, deepen your seat of spiritual awareness, awaken your brain, and suddenly we move from a very narrow understanding of "who am I?" How well have I done? Do I have enough money? Am I well known enough? You know, all those kinds of indicators of externality towards a deep dialogue with life. Not "what I want and how I will get it," which I call achievement awareness We are freed from the awareness of achievement and can then
begin to ask ourselves: Hey, what is life showing me right now? What is the universe revealing to me now Life becomes less of a grocery list and less of a trophy aisle; Instead, life becomes a truly amazing and fantastic adventure. We don't get the life we want. It would be too small a life. If we are an open and awakened system, we get a far superior life, a much greater life. We get an inspired life. You've done brain scans in which people recalled profound spiritual experiences. Could you give us some examples and what you saw happening in the brain?
Jay, we asked people from all different faith traditions. So some people were Christian, some Hindu, some Muslim, some Jewish, spiritual but not religious. And regardless of what tradition someone follows or not, spiritual but not religious, the same neural circuits activate in our brain when we encounter God, the profound force of life. We asked people a very simple question. No one was confused by the question. We asked people, Gen Z specifically, we asked: tell us about a time when you were really struggling, when you felt disconnected, frustrated, lost, or inadequate, when you felt like you had failed or that you were worthless, that you felt like a loser, right?
No one was confused by that question. And then in the second part we said: and in that difficulty, you turned to God, you walked in nature, you meditated or prayed, or suddenly, perhaps even unexpectedly, you felt touched by a sacred presence and the path of life took a different turn. Tell us about a time that started out difficult, but through God's inspiration and guidance, took a different turn. We welcome people inside the MRI machine. They tell the story they have told many times before, about how they were touched by their higher presence.
They tell the story they had already shared with us about being touched by a higher presence, and we play their same story, in their own voice, in their ears within the resonance. And what we saw was extraordinary. When we have a spiritual experience , the same neural pathways are activated in every single person. It doesn't matter if I am Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Catholic, spiritual but not religious. Nature is my cathedral The same neural correlates are activated , which constitute the connection network; we perceive that suddenly, at that turning point, we feel the presence of God.
We are loved and supported. The bonding network is activated. Suddenly, at the turning point, we know we are being guided. And suddenly the parietal lobe begins to loosen its rigid boundaries, making us realize that we are never alone Loved and guided, never alone. Each of us is able to perceive that we are loved, supported, guided and never alone. What do these stories look like? You know, I got rejected from seven out of eight universities. I feel like such a loser. I will never be able to get into university like my parents and grandparents wanted. And I walk down the street feeling completely unworthy
. I really wanted to become a nurse. I ca n't get into nursing school. Eight out of nine refusals. Maybe nursing school isn't for me. But then I see the light between the leaves and I know I will be a healer in the way God intended for me. The profound reordering of meaning, the enlightenment, the awakening, the awareness that speaks to a deeper and wiser part of ourselves. Or I was about to get married. I dated a guy for three years in college. I even had an engagement ring. We were going to get married the year after graduation. And then, the week before graduation, he canceled everything. I have never felt so unloved and unworthy of love. I felt so unattractive, so undesirable.
But then I came home. And sitting in the pews of my childhood church, next to my parents and grandparents, I suddenly felt the love of my family. And then I felt a greater love. I felt God's love. And I knew: yes, I will love again. Jay, so many young people stop at pain. So many of us, and it can happen to anyone, stop at the pain. But pain is actually an invitation. It's a knock on the door to hear enlightenment. And the brain is built just like a socket in the catcher's glove, of course, to receive guidance, to grasp enlightenment. And almost, because sometimes it's so painful, we don't know how to rise to a
deeper question because it seems so difficult. So tell me about this, think about this for me, and how do we do this? Jay, and in that way, yes, depression is the opening to transcendence. Depression doesn't make us smaller When we say yes, what is life showing me now? What questions come to my heart that I would n't have asked otherwise? Why do I feel so anxious? What am I afraid of losing? Why does it hurt so much? Maybe, you know, there's a blind spot, just like we have a blind spot in our car, between the person I want to be and think I am, and the person I could actually be.
And that blind spot is the growth zone. This is our opportunity. When there is a large blind spot, suffering is an invitation to help narrow that blind spot. How can I be more loving? Or maybe I need to be more independent? Whatever the welcome gift, the blind spot is not a moral failure. It is an invitation to growth and spiritual growth. Why do you think people are moving away from organized religion and toward spirituality right now? Well, there's definitely a trend right now, especially with Gen Z, which is very hungry for spiritual life because sadly, over the last two or three decades, our culture has become increasingly silent. In fact, we have had an ice age
in the last three decades of spiritual life at the center of society. Our public square has experienced a 30-year ice age when it comes to spiritual life. Now there's a whole generation, Gen Z, that says, you know, I know there's more. I feel this immense love and I wonder where to take it, what to do with it. My deep inner wisdom, my instincts tell me things that I never learned in school. The only way to realize who we are is to claim our birthright, our innate spirituality.
Spirituality is not a belief. It is a deep and innate seat of perception Spirituality is not a theory or a faith. Spirituality is a perception hardwired into our brains. On spirituality, according to science, we know three things about spiritual life. First, every human being on earth is born naturally spiritual. Regardless of our tradition, whether I am Hindu, Catholic, Jewish, or spiritual but not religious, every single human being on earth is born as a naturally spiritual being. Second, there are even circuits in the brain, a spiritual brain, and everyone on earth has it. Third, while spirituality is innate, it is one-third innate and two- thirds shaped by the environment, which means we are called upon to do
our part to strengthen this muscle and build our natural gift of spiritual awareness. The question is not: Am I spiritual? You are already spiritual. The question, the real question is: how do you want to accept the invitation? How do you want to build your spiritual life? If someone is listening right now and feels completely lost, stuck, and disconnected from their spiritual self, where would you suggest they start? Hey, what if you really took your deep inner wisdom, that little whisper of intuition, seriously? What would happen if you really took that synchronicity seriously? You know, a lot of
people will say, I thought that synchronicity was real and my boyfriend told me I was crazy, or I thought this spiritual voice I was hearing was real and people called me crazy. But you know what? What if instead you honored for just a moment the wisdom that has arisen within you, the fact that you are a beautiful spiritual being already built to see, know, and be touched by the presence of God? You're ready to go. Once we empower ourselves as spiritual knowers, then the red carpet is rolled out before us, as we enter into dialogue with a loving and guiding universe. Then we are guided, and this is a completely different life. This is a spiritual adventure.
Can you tell me how a spiritual life positively influences our mental health? Yes. Well, a spiritual life says that it doesn't matter what happens to me, whether it's what I wanted or not. It could be, you know, my partner is cheating on me. It could be that he hasn't had the success he hoped for at work. It could be that my best friend has become busy and doesn't have time for me. Disappointments, or it could be more serious things. Trauma affects all of our lives, but our ability to say, okay, even in my darkest hour, I know I'm not falling into an abyss. I'm not falling into a black hole. There is an
upward push. I am supported. Well, who supports us? It's the universe. It is God who supports you. Even in my darkest hour, I don't know if I should go left, right, or center. You don't need to know. Leave it to someone else. You don't need to make life's biggest decisions. Entrust them to the deep force of life and your direction will be revealed to you. But you have to make a choice, and that choice is to pay attention, trust your intuition, and then take action. What do you mean, "leave it to someone else"? Why do I feel like, does this mean I don't have to do anything? It means I have to.
Exactly. Ah, great point. Each of us is born with two forms of knowing: achievement awareness, which involves tactics, strategies, how to close a deal, and awakened awareness through which we perceive life's guidance, deeper direction, and love in life. We need both. We can fix our North Star through awakened understanding Ah, synchronicity is guiding me to come and follow the path to the right. But how do I turn right? Well, I need tactics and strategies. Any gift from God, a vision of who I will become-I am a healer, I am someone who will serve, someone who will care for children, someone who wants to invent and create-must then be fulfilled.
Awareness of achievement is how we put our contributions into practice. Awakened awareness is how we find our direction. Awareness of achievement allows us to implement, to truly make a difference. Spirituality has two directions. One is the vertical one through which we experience inspiration, guidance, and love. The other is the horizontal one through which we put into practice and contribute with love and guidance Inspiration often comes through awakening. Contribution requires tactics, it requires strategy.
The children of light need wonderful skills. I love this approach. I'm so glad you said we need both. I've always thought that sometimes spirituality and religion have gotten this misconception where people see them as a crutch, because it's like, "Oh yeah, well, I'm just going to hand it all over to the Universe and not do anything about it." And that almost feels spiritual. It sounds detached, but it really isn't. It's almost irresponsible. Well, how we treat each other is a spiritual choice, right Just as we are loved and guided by the source, by the Universe, we can choose to be loving and guiding to one another.
Both are forms of awakened relationship, an awakened relationship to contemplate God and a relationship to contemplate God in you. If I see you, my brother, as an expression, as a ray of the same sun of God or the Universe, then our relationship becomes an awakened relationship. We can have an awakened relationship with God. We can have an awakened relationship with each other. Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? I think we can stop asking "why is this happening to me" and move on to "how is this happening to me?" So, regardless of the origin, every moment is an opportunity for a profound spiritual awakening.
We can use a spiritual lens and say, ah, I can feel God's presence even now, in this moment of trauma and trembling. I don't fall into the abyss. God supports me. I can bring my deep perception of written guidance into life and say: this has never happened to me before. You know, my father just died. I don't know how to live in this world without my father. But wait a minute. My father can be a conduit for Father God, Mother God, and begin to see more and more of the written guidance in life. So when we have, and it is a choice, a spiritual response to everything that happens, we can ask ourselves: How is this happening for me?
And this is also a great way to check our intuition. Listening to our intuition, that little whisper of a hunch, you know, Jay, there are regions in the brain dedicated to intuition. There are regions in the brain for mystical awareness. These are valid, hardwired forms of knowledge. When we ignore this certain knowledge, we do so at our own peril and that of those around us. We are given guidance. And life is certainly showing us the double door to a much more interesting life. So you know, it's worth asking yourself: hey, wait a minute, what was the most important decision you've ever made in your life? Was it about your family? Was it about your business? Was it a moral decision? What
was the most important decision you ever made in your life? And was it taken by carefully analyzing the pros and cons and making a long list of 18 points? Or have you turned to a deeper form of knowing, to intuition, to inspiration, to a mystical awareness touched in meditation or prayer? Was there an awakened knowledge that guided your most important decision? And how do you know the difference? How do you know if you're listening to your gut or your fear? The more we pay attention to our awakened awareness, the more precise we become. It might seem a little rusty or clunky at first, but the more we say yes, the more that guidance feels real.
I will act accordingly. And punctually, the proof is in the facts. When we act on synchronicity, on a hunch, on a mystical awareness, the answer to our dilemma comes. Right? There is no difference between internal awareness and external development. Consciousness is within us, through us, and around us. When we listen to so-called internal guidance, we are on the road to answers to our external dilemmas. You used the word God a lot in our conversation today. My word is God. Yes. And I wanted to ask you, do you have to believe in God to be spiritual?
I think that to be spiritual we just have to listen to how the deeper force of life touches and guides us What you call this profound force and how you define it conceptually is entirely secondary. It is an aspect subordinate to fundamental perception, awareness, and loving guidance. Being spiritual means paying attention to the love and guidance that is already there. We in our family, Jay, we have struggled. My husband and I struggled for five years trying to have a child. We couldn't have a child and it was deeply depressing for me. And my husband was so depressed that one evening I found him on the floor. He was shaking.
My, you know, big, strong husband was literally crying and shaking because there were no children coming into our lives. I've been to every top fertility doctor in the country. I went to the team that had the highest conception rates. I went to the team all the way up the East Coast that invented IVF. Yet no one arrived. And it was only when I started paying attention to synchronicities and guidance, to unlikely events in my life. And then I started having mystical experiences that made me say, yes, this is real information, and we followed the
golden thread and found our son on the other side of the world, a beautiful child who was obviously our spiritual son. Now, if I thought of spirituality as just a good feeling or something that happens inside me, or as a way of coping with things, it would have nothing to say about a plan of action in the world. But spirituality is an extremely practical and operational guide through which we can realize our deepest calling, our true path, and support the calling of those around us. My son would still be in an orphanage if I hadn't believed that synchronicities were real. My husband and I wouldn't be parents if I did n't believe that synchronicities were real.
Spirituality isn't just a nice thing or the icing on the cake. It is the cornerstone. It is the only setting through which we can live our lives fully and radiantly. What mistakes do you think spiritual people make when it comes to money? I think the biggest mistake we make when starting our spiritual journey is to separate our spiritual life from our work life. But in reality, how we show up at work is a spiritual undertaking. Even if we don't like the job, even if in 5 or 10 years we may not be in the same profession as we are now, when we show up with an authentic spiritual voice and say, "You know what, I won't make an immoral decision even if my boss is
pressuring me." You know, I really think there's a point in this client just now telling me that his wife is dying. I feel love in my heart for the other party and I don't want to exploit or take advantage of them. When we bring our spiritual heart to work, we make more ethical decisions and, in the end, we make decisions that benefit everyone. An informed decision is a win-win decision. It is much more sustainable and, yes, more externally profitable in the long term Mmh. So the biggest mistake we can make is to leave our spiritual part at home And as leaders, the biggest mistake we can make later in our careers
is to silence the spiritual voice of the people at the table Yes. Mmh. Absolutely. I have many friends who consider themselves spiritual. Many of them are depressed and lack financial stability. Mmh. When you tell me that spiritual people are less depressed and should have opportunities for abundance, Uh-huh. I don't always see this translate into reality. And I'm trying to figure out where they stumble or where they go wrong. Yes, I often hear that spirituality is in the ashram. Spirituality is walking away from business, banking, or the career you've been pursuing for 25 years.
I would say exactly the opposite. Spirituality is bringing your deepest wisdom and soul into the banking, into the profession of 20 years. When we separate ourselves from the flow of life, we remove ourselves from the energy field. We have withdrawn ourselves from the majestic symphony that is embodied spiritual reality Society is not devoid of spirituality. Everyone is born spiritual. Society is spiritual reality embodied. Now, how much will we cultivate this reality and what will we bring to it? How will we introduce ourselves?
I think we end up depressed and poor when we isolate ourselves, when we sequester ourselves, and certainly when we feel better than others. I think the challenge people genuinely feel is being exhausted by our lives and our days. Mhm. We always think, oh yeah, when I have more energy, I'll do it. When I have some peace, I will. What do you think about this I think your spiritual life is the only way to gain energy, peace, and direction. So, even though I'm completely exhausted, every morning I force myself to get out there, go outside, and open myself to meditation and morning prayer Now, there are days when it's
deeper than others, but if I skip a day, it becomes a very different kind of day If I miss practice in the morning, my day unfolds very differently. I have to say, oops, around noon, sorry, I go out and, even if it's noon or one o'clock, I say my morning prayers. Mhm. For me, morning prayer is an opening to connect in dialogue with the universe. If I miss it, then I am working from a position of ego, of desire. What do I want for myself? What do I want for my family? If I go out and begin to love God, please open my heart and fill me with love so that I can be there for you. You use your words. Mhm. Today is a dialogue with the universe.
You said that children are born as pure souls. Yes. Do you think everyone is born good? Everyone is born as a knowing being. We know this through the lens, the lens of science. We can look at twin studies and know that every single person is born with a natural capacity for spiritual awareness. And we know, thanks to MRI studies, that every single person is born with brain circuits predisposed to spiritual awareness. What does this mean in a child? Science shows us that, unless socialized otherwise, a young child naturally perceives the continuity of consciousness or spirit after death, unless
told, "No, no, it's not real." A small child naturally perceives what we can know directly. We don't need to be told, read about it, or see it. We can have direct access to consciousness. Science calls all this implicit spiritual cognition. I say that the child is born "wise". Now, what happens in school is the child says, "Oh, I know the answer." And the teacher replies: "What?" "What do you mean?" "Point to the page." "Where does it say?" "Where did you read it?" "You have to quote and report how you know this." And
the kid says, "No, I just knew it This exchange communicates to the child that direct knowledge is less real; that the kind of knowledge we prioritize, prioritize, and value in school is the kind that comes from someone else. But in reality, the most important knowledge we have doesn't come from anyone else. It is an original and authentic knowledge within us. This is how we know our calling, our purpose, our direction. School has disaccustomed us to our natural spiritual awareness. School has taken away the direction and guidance intrinsic to life. The child already arrives as a wise man.
The child arrives by listening and paying attention to his own inner spiritual compass. And in school we learn, "Oh no, no, it's not real." "Someone else must have told you." What can parents do to protect all of this? It is essential for parents to protect their child's natural spiritual awareness. Parents can say, "Hey, you said you just knew. " "How wonderful." "Was it a firsthand knowledge?" "Did you really know? Or a child might come to us parents and say something like, "You know, I felt Grandma's presence even though she's no longer here." "I really felt my grandmother's presence." And you can
say, "Wow, Grandma really loved you." "It makes sense that she watches over you." We don't need to have all the answers as parents, but to protect our children's natural spirituality, we need to empower them to be wise. Wow, you dreamed that Dad and I would travel around the world and today we told you? Wow, you had a feeling your sister would be home from school soon and it actually happened? You had firsthand knowledge. Wow. Honor and allow your child's firsthand knowledge, because everyone else in society tells him it's not real We have poisoned a generation with something called radical materialism, which says that only what you can touch or hit is real.
But in reality, there is a great deal of information in the invisible and the child has access to that information Telling the child, "Oh no, that gut feeling you have is just intuition." Ninth. Wow, that's the gift of your intuition. What? Did you make that up? Did you imagine it? No, no, no. Imagination, like touching a hot stove, reflects what is true. You understood it thanks to your important imagination. Authorize, authorize, authorize. Lisa, what does therapy do that spirituality can't do, and what does spirituality do that therapy can't do Yes. So, Jay, for 30 years I've worked at the intersection of spirituality and
psychotherapy, and I've published over 200 articles on spirituality, mental health, and healing, many of them in high-level scientific journals. Spirituality is essential for healing from depression and addictions. Spirituality protects against depression and addictions. There is nothing in the clinical or social sciences as important to the formation of the whole person as a solid spiritual core. So, in my opinion, psychotherapy without a spiritual core makes no sense A spiritually informed therapy is one in which the patient is allowed to open themselves to the guidance of the universe, to raise their antennae and ask themselves the
question: What is life showing me right now? What is this suffering revealing to me now? Is there a blind spot where I may have been careless or selfish? Is there a blind spot where I haven't yet taken responsibility or autonomy for my life? Is there a way I'm not listening to the universe? The universe knocks louder and louder, as you said, until I listen. That kind of reflection is a reflection born of suffering, but it is not purely a psychological issue. It's a question where we ask to see beyond what we know. Awakened awareness holds information that has yet to unfold before us.
Achieving awareness draws on all the information from our lives and those of others to date. It is intrinsically based on the past. But intuition, mystical experience, and awakened knowing have information that has yet to unfold before us. The yellow doors. This is why spirituality is essential for mental health, because what is suffering if not a knock on the door to emerge beyond the person we have always been. And it's true, every single person listening is already spiritual. Mm. This is theirs. It's not just for the most devout or the most educated. Nobody owns this. You are spiritual. But it's your chance to wake up Yes, we end each episode of On Purpose with the final five.
These questions should be answered in one sentence or less. And so, Lisa Miller, these are your final five. The first question is: what is the best advice you have ever heard or received? Listen to your inner wisdom and don't follow the herd. Handsome. I agree. Question number two: What's the worst advice you've ever heard or received? Do as I say. Question number three: What's the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? Every morning I begin my day with a prayer that invites my heart to connect with God. And every day I end my day thanking God for the guidance, love, and
miracle of the adventure that was the day just passed. Mm. What do you ask God for in your prayers? I ask that I may align my heart with God's guidance and love and serve God with love that day. I don't know what will happen, but I know I will be in harmony. Fifth and final question, Lisa, we ask every guest who has been on the program. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? Every person you meet on your path was sent from the source. Treat her with an awakened heart. If you found this video helpful and would like to watch more, this next video has been chosen especially for you based on your viewing habits.
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