A Brief Sketch of Spirituality as Portrayed by Existential and Positive Psychologists
While “mainstream” psychology for all practical purposes treats spirituality in only superficial manner, Existential and positive psychologists have performed a large number of studies on spirituality and meaning. a fair amount has been studied and researched in spirituality as well as numerous studies about meaning. Most psychologists connect spirituality with meaning and purpose, so it might be best to start there.
The psychologists Gary T. Reker and Paul T. P. Wong, in an article, state that “global meaning functions as an effective buffer of life stress (health protecting) and as a generalized enhancer of psychological well-being, and self-esteem (health promoting). (Quest p.443) Numerous studies show that meaning, not surprisingly, is pivotal to human beings in living their lives and a stronger sense of meaning generally translates to improved physical health as well as a stronger sense of well-being. Peterson and Park state “Both an orientation to meaning and the presence of meaning were positively associated with life satisfaction and positive affect and negatively associated with depression and negative affect.” (Quest p.289) Reker and Wong go on to say, “individuals develop personal meaning orientations that individually and collectively contribute to positive psychosocial functioning. (p. 444)
Michael Steger provides a very coherent synopsis of the role and function of meaning in human consciousness when he states that “meaning is, at its heart, an integrating factor for people. Meaning pulls together people’s ideas about who they are, the kind of world they live in, and how they relate to the people and environments around them. Meaning incorporates these elements into people’s aspirations and overarching aims. (Quest p. 169)
There is a minor movement in medical practices to include spirituality. Though mainstream psychologists appear generally close-minded and even intolerant of spirituality – perhaps due to the “delusional” stigma attached to spirituality, Dr. Harold Koenig, a medical doctor from Duke University notes that about half of the medical universities now offer courses in spirituality. Amit Sood, a medical doctor from the Mayo Clinic, in his book about stress, states that “spirituality” is beneficial, especially in improving resistance to disease and illness.
As my mother has observed, it now seems that much of contemporary science has come full circle and gone from being (rather hypocritically) critical of religious beliefs to now finding that what religious leaders like Christ and Buddha said about human characteristics like compassion and forgiveness were correct and, in fact, right on target. In fact, studies now convincingly demonstrate that compassion, as in volunteering and helping, leads to generally better physical health and a stronger sense of well-being and meaning.
An ultra-brief summary of spirituality research comes from Pargament’s and Mahoney’s article in the Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology: “Generally, involvement in the search for the sacred is associated with beneficial outcomes. People who pray and meditate more often, attend church more frequently, experience a greater sense of connectedness with the sacred, draw more on various spiritual methods of coping to deal with problems, and see the world through a scared lens experience better health and well-being (see Koenig, McCullough, & Larson, 2001; Pargamount, 1997; Pargament and Mahoney, 2005). (p.615 Handbook of Positive Psychology)
In studying the effects of religion and spirituality on the elderly population Kraus found that (religious) social connections produced a “deeper sense of meaning in life,” improved “adoption of religious coping responses,” and better support for coping with financial strain.” (Handbook of the Psychology of Religion p.206) Reker and Wong found from a study that “Older adults with a transcendent meaning orientation have significantly greater purpose and coherence in life (global meaning), perceive to have more choice, fear death less, and continue to seek new challenges compared to older adults characterized by a self-preoccupied orientation. Transcendent older adults are more extraverted, agreeable, and conscientious and show less fear of aging compared to their self-preoccupied counterparts.” (p.446-7 Quest) That is, transcending the worldly emotional entanglements and disappointments proved very helpful to people who were able to do that. It may be a backwards way of looking at things but in the highly competitive, dog-eat-dog, world with all its ups and downs, thrills and crushing defeats, transcendence would almost seem a necessity rather than just an option.
In passing, I would also mention that religions are associated with “morals” and thus with “character strengths.” Park and Peterson argue that their study of character strengths show that there is a correlation between “meaning and the presence of meaning” with “life satisfaction” and with particular character strengths which are “curiosity, gratitude, hope, love, and zest.” They go on to say: “Also associated with meaning were the strengths of religiousness, perspective, leadership, bravery, and social intelligence.” (p.289 Quest) I found the strength characteristic of “curiosity interesting. The characteristic of curiosity brought to mind Einstein and Sagan who both speak forcefully about the positive effects of wonder, awe, and abstract thought.
In a blog-essay about which centers around the “experience’ of God and of religious beliefs, I highlight that spiritual and religious experiences can shape one’s sense of reality: https://www.spirittruthandmeaning.com/god-is-not-god-delusional-delusions