Listen to 12 minute presentation given at Mass on Feb. 19th at this link:
http://www.ctredeemer.org/february-19-2017/
Okay. You caught me! Once in awhile I make up the “crazy catholic question” so I can answer it with something that I find to be exciting or relevant. Dr. Miller’s book is both! I’m only in the 4th chapter but I have exclaimed “Oh my God!” more times than I can count while reading her fascinating study of the scientific link between spirituality and health, particularly in children.
The central theme of the book is: human development naturally includes a transcendent component, and when this natural spiritual capacity is fostered in children, it is THE most effective factor currently known to science to stimulate flourishing. She shows that children who have a positive, active relationship to spirituality are 40% less likely to use and abuse substances, 60% less likely to be depressed as teenagers, 80% less likely to have dangerous or unprotected sex and have an increased sense of meaning and purpose (even into adulthood), and high levels of academic success.
Dr. Miller defines Spirituality as an inner sense of a relationship and dialogue with a higher power that is loving and guiding (25). She states that the “capacity for transcendence is inborn and universal to all human beings…we are hardwired for spiritual connection (29)” and “we can either cultivate children’s natural spiritual assets into richly developed strengths for a lifetime (177)” or neglect them to the detriment of the child. She uses Math as an analogy. “We are not born knowing addition and subtraction, but we are born with the capacity for mathematical thinking. Our children are born with the capacity for spiritual knowing. Rather than leave it to wither by neglect, we can support our children’s natural spirituality, hold open the space for expression, provide a language for it, and help their spiritual assets grow.”
The part that really knocked my socks off though is when she highlights the vital role that family plays in fostering a child’s spiritual development. Her first breakthrough in research came when she was stumped trying to find what protects genetically pre-disposed individuals from depression. While riding the subway on a Sunday morning Miller observed a disheveled, mentally unstable man desperate for attention and human connection yelling to the passengers “Do you want to sit by me? Uncomfortable with the scene, everyone uniformly moved away and ignored him. But everything changed when a grandmother and granddaughter boarded the train, pristinely dressed in their Sunday best. When the man asked if they would like to sit next to him, they looked at each other, nodded, and without hesitation said “Yes, thank you” and quietly took seats next to him. Through this simple interaction, the man was greatly calmed. Through this unspoken nod the grandmother exchanged a sense of spiritual purpose with her granddaughter. Dr. Miller said she could “almost hear the voice: What you do to the least of these...” She rushed to her lab and ran an equation testing the effect of “the nod,” a sense of shared spirituality and/or religion between mother and offspring.
Her results are startling! Among families at high-risk for depression, spirituality in just the mother or child alone only marginally protected them. However, when both the parent and child shared the same sense of spirituality, there was an 80% reduction in risk of depression. 80%! This “nod” of shared spirituality is scientifically proven to be THE most protective factor against depression…between three to seven times more protective than ANY OTHER SOURCE of resilience…neither biology nor relationships, education, socioeconomic situations, pills or supplements could compare with this” (88). I just started the 2nd part of the book which details the power of spirituality in helping teens and parents navigate the often stormy waters of adolescence. Expect more contrived questions! Unless you have a CCQ to send me, Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org.
