An Introduction to Spirituality

Is being spiritual psychologically beneficial for us?

Our definitions of spirituality usually revolve around some element of seeking purpose and meaning, a sense of peace or positive connections with the world, and feeling connected to a larger life force or power greater than oneself (Thoresen & Harris, 2002). People often turn to spirituality for support with the things that most challenge them. In the days before modern science, nearly every culture had spiritual explanations for phenomena they could not understand, such as when it would rain or why the sun came up each morning.

These days, people turn to spirituality for similar reasons, although the specifics may be quite different. Many of us know somebody who found God after a particularly distressing personal loss or experience of trauma, or perhaps because something profoundly positive inexplicably happened in their life.

How Common Is Spirituality?

Although modern science seems able to explain more and more of how life works, nearly 90% of the world’s population continues to have some kind of spiritual practice in their lives (Koenig, 2010), whether that is a religious belief based in regular church attendance or a spiritual relationship with nature. There seem to be persistent limits to the power of secular explanations for everything—life is too complex and uncertain for us to cope with it on a purely rational level. To handle the randomness of life, especially as it delivers us both great highs and devastating lows, many of us choose to hold a belief system that provides some explanation of that which can’t be rationally explained (Koenig, 2010).

What Does Spirituality Mean?

Spirituality takes on different meanings for different people. Spirituality can be a deeply personal and individual experience, allowing individuals to explore and connect with their inner selves, the world around them, and something greater than themselves. For others, it centers around a belief in the divine and active engagement in organized religion. It may also include practices such as quiet reflection, time in nature, private prayer, yoga, or meditation that enable them to connect with their spiritual selves. Religion is an organized system of beliefs and practices, so you may be spiritual without being religious or religious without being spiritual. You can also be both—it all depends on the individual.

Why Spirituality May Benefit Us

It’s an uncommonly robust finding in the psychological literature that quality of life is slightly higher, on average, among people who have a religious or spiritual practice versus those who do not (Panzini et al., 2017). There may be distinct benefits from actively engaging in spiritual practices, using one’s spirituality to cope with life’s difficulties, and being affiliated with a religious institution.

The Intersection of Psychology and Spirituality

Where do psychology and spirituality intersect? Psychologists are interested in the human behaviors, thoughts, and feelings associated with religion and spirituality (Paloutzian & Park, 2021). They study these phenomena at both an individual and a group level, and in terms of both organized religion and individualized spirituality. For example, they might look at differences in religious affiliations and voting behaviors, or levels of spirituality and responses to different psychological treatments.

Psychologists always try to ground their work in a theoretical approach; in the case of spirituality, one helpful approach is called the meaning systems approach (Paloutzian & Park, 2021). Instead of trying to concern themselves with fully understanding religion or spirituality, psychologists can focus on the question of how the people they study use spirituality to make sense of their lives. In particular, what kinds of meanings do people draw from the confusing or difficult-to-explain aspects of their lives? How is this helpful or unhelpful for them?

Spirituality & Healing

It’s clear that spirituality is an important part of healing for many people; for example, incorporating spirituality into psychotherapy seems to make psychotherapy even more effective for people who are already spiritual or religious (Worthington et al., 2011). Just as powerfully, across a great number of studies, Lucchetti and colleagues (2011) found that people who rate themselves as very spiritual or religious had lower mortality rates, suggesting that faith really does help sustain and heal us. And at least one study (Curcio et al., 2022) indicates that spirituality may be a helpful factor in recovering from surgery.

Spirituality & Nature

Many people find their spirituality in nature rather than in thinking about a higher power or attending religious services. (In fact, some people would say that nature is their higher power.) It’s clear that simply being in nature can help people feel more spiritual; for example, in interviews with nature-based therapists, those therapists say they routinely observe their clients becoming more connected to their spiritual sides simply from spending time in nature (Naor & Mayseless, 2020).

Spirituality vs. Enlightenment

Spirituality is the practice of becoming gradually more enlightened—incrementally more connected to the things that transcend regular human experience. By contrast, enlightenment itself is the experience of having reached a true and lasting state of connection with a higher power (Koenig, 2010). While it seems most people have some kind of spirituality in their lives, it takes true dedication and devotion to achieve this state of being.

References

●     Curcio, N., Turner, E. D., Leonard, K., Bennett, M. M., Warren, A. M., & Edgerton, J. R. (2022, June). The role of resilience and spirituality in recovery following cardiac surgery. In Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings (Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 420–427). Taylor & Francis.

●     Koenig, H. G. (2010). Spirituality and mental health. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 7(2), 116–122.

●     Lucchetti, G., Lucchetti, A. L., & Koenig, H. G. (2011). Impact of spirituality/religiosity on mortality: comparison with other health interventions. Explore, 7(4), 234–238.

●     Naor, L., & Mayseless, O. (2020). The therapeutic value of experiencing spirituality in nature. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 7(2), 114.

●     Paloutzian, R. F., & Park, C. L. (2021). The psychology of religion and spirituality: How big the tent? Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 13(1), 3–13.

●     Panzini, R. G., Mosqueiro, B. P., Zimpel, R. R., Bandeira, D. R., Rocha, N. S., & Fleck, M. P. (2017). Quality-of-life and spirituality. International Review of Psychiatry, 29(3), 263–282.

●     Thoresen, C. E., & Harris, A. H. (2002). Spirituality and health: what's the evidence and what's needed? Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(1), 3–13.

●     Worthington, E. L., Jr., Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., & McDaniel, M. A. (2011). Religion and spirituality. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(2), 204–214.