Spirituality and wellness
Is God in our genes?
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Time Oct. 25, 2004
“Does our DNA compel us to
seek a higher power?”
Do we seek spiritual outlets
because they are adaptive?
Does spirituality help humans
cope and flourish?
Foster health and well-being?
Buddhist Belief
Existence of a spirituality “gene”.
 Inherit a tiny fragment from a previous life.
 This small “gene” merges with those we
inherit from our parents.
 Shape our physical and spiritual profile.
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God Gene
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Dean Hamer is a geneticist works at
National Cancer Institute (NIH).
Ph.D from Harvard Medical School.
The God Gene: How faith is
hardwired in our genes
Idea came from a study on smoking
and addiction.
Temperament and Character Inventory
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TCI designed by Robert Cloninger.
Researcher on genetics of addiction.
Self-transcendence trait made up of:
1) Self-forgetfulness: To get entirely lost
in an experience.
2) Transpersonal: Connectedness to the
larger universe.
3) Mysticism: Openness to things not
literally provable.
Self-transcendence Gene
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Hamer ranked 1000 subjects on Cloninger’s selftranscendence trait.
Got DNA samples from subjects.
Focused in 9 genes involved in production of
monoamine neurotransmitters related to mood and
reward (serotonin, dopamine).
Gene for vesicular monoamine transporter.
VMAT gene variation high in those with trait.
VMAT gene for spirituality?
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Buddhists have found Hamer’s
finding “amusing and fun”.
What do you think?
Is our tendency to believe in God
due to levels of our brain
chemicals?
Most religious leaders are not
impressed.
John Polkinghorne
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British clergyman.
Winner of the Templeton Prize in Science
and Religion.
“You can’t cut faith down to the lowest
denominator of genetic survival. It shows
the poverty of reductionist thinking.”
Reductionist thinking: The nature of
complex things can always be reduced to
(explained by) simpler or more
fundamental things.
Spiritual inheritance
God “gene” may be a stretch.
 But spirituality does convey adaptive value.
 Could be inherited in a broad sense.
 Might help us cope and flourish.
 Promote health and well-being.
 Those who possess this trait more likely to
have productive lives and strong families.
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Minnesota Twin Studies
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MZ twins share more in common than do DZ twins.
Phobias, illnesses, habits.
MZ twins more likely to share spirituality but not
religious faith.
Spirituality is search for meaning in life, need to relate
to something greater than one’s self.
Religion is how spirituality is channeled by
institutions, specific beliefs and rituals.
Spirituality and religion
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Spirituality is found in all
human cultures.
Expressed differently in
religious faiths.
Common mechanism for
transcendence.
Changes in Brain Function
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Writing and speaking brain
active now.
Processing language.
PET scans show language
areas active.
Limbic system (emotional
brain) is quiet.
Path to Meditative State
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Begin meditation exercise.
Parietal lobe goes quiet:
time and space.
Frontal lobes becomes more
active.
Inputs from limbic system.
Deep Meditation
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Powerful feelings begin to emerge.
Time and space disappear.
Feeling of peace.
Lose world around you.
Spiritual experience
Centering prayer.
Quiet, reflective state.
A meditation class
What are the benefits?
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Spirituality has a biological expression.
Benefits: Provides good stress reducer.
Neuroscientist Michael Persinger:
“God experience is a brilliant adaptation.
It’s a built-in pacifier.”
Seek meaning in our lives.
Hope there is a purpose to it all.
Religion provides additional benefits.
Religion and Health
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Most medical schools now expose
students to spiritual issues.
Harvard Medical School: Armand
Nicholi
Question of God
Contrasts Freud and C.S. Lewis.
Viewpoints about the role of
religion in psychological and
physical health.
Religion and well-being
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Benefits of participation in
religious behavior.
Not just beliefs.
Those that attend services on
regular basis report greater
well-being and better health.
More than just social
association.
Six factors
1. Provides Social support
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Social support strong predictor of
well-being.
Community of like minded
individuals.
Social psych: we strongest bond
with others like ourselves.
Help others with problems in
mind, body and spirit.
2. Support Health Lifestyles
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Many religions urge moderation
in use of alcohol and drugs.
Some prohibit use.
Others promote family
guidelines.
Discourage other risky behavior.
Natural helpers: Referral sources.
3. Personality Integration
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Deeper commitment helps
people focus on goals and
strivings.
Life-long path of discovery.
Meditation and prayer help us
integrate our personalities.
Who we are and what we are
about.
4. Increase Generativity
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Erik Erickson’s Developmental Stages
Stage Seven – later adulthood, marked
by generativity versus stagnation
In this stage generativity refers to the
adult's ability to care for another person.
Not just your own children but the next
generation(s).
5. Unique Coping Strategies
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Providing hope, optimism.
Relief from stressors.
Place lives in a greater
perspective.
Positive forms: Working with
higher power to get through
difficulty.
Negative forms (guilt and
blaming) offer no relief.
6. Sense of Purpose
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Life has meaning and purpose.
Religion provides framework for
life’s journey.
Traditions and rites of passage.
Add meaning to events.
Good times and bad.
Sense of control: Not just pawns.
Not alone on our journey
Prayer: “You are close to us as breathing and
further than the farthest most star.”
 Provides moral code of conduct.
 Most religions have a version of “do unto
others as you would have them to unto you.”
 Foster a sense of self-worth, shared meaning
from the community.
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Dark Side of Religion
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Religion can become evil.
Religious wars.
Exclude and devalue
others who don’t share
your beliefs.
Ethnic cleansing.
John Lennon’s dream of a
perfect world with “no
religion too”.
Benefits from other sources?
Commitment to an important cause.
 Examples: Promoting peace, protecting
nature, securing equality.
 Might provide sense of purpose, social
support, generativity, personality
integration.
 Healthy lifestyle?
 Unique coping strategies?
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Spirituality takes many forms.
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Have to be engaged.
Not just beliefs, but also actions.
Benefits come from active
participation.
Walk the talk.
Generativity: Care for the next
generation.
Amazing returns on your
investment.