Rain, caves, and miracles: New study connects weather to ancient tales
A new study provides a possible scientific explanation for the existence of stories about ancient saints performing miracles with water.
01 April, 2021
Photo by Peter de Vink from Pexels
<p>Ancient and near ancient records are often less than trustworthy. Even if you ignore the parts with reports of sea<a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D16%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D17" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <u>monsters</u></a> or ants that mine<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histories_(Herodotus)#Scientific_reasoning" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <u>gold</u></a>, certain events often seem exaggerated. If we trust what the Greeks<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Persian_invasion_of_Greece#Size_of_the_Persian_forces" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <u>wrote</u></a>, we'd have to assume Persia invaded with an impossibly high percentage of their entire population. The Romans, fond of showing how horrible the people they subdued were, spoke of the Celts using the Wicker Man for human sacrifice, though we can find no hard evidence of Wicker Men having existed. </p><p>You can probably understand why most historians take certain claims with a grain of salt, especially when those claims talk about dramatic events.</p><p>One seemingly mundane area this includes is the weather. What one person might record as an unprecedented weather event another person might think of as normal. Determining which account is correct a thousand years after the fact can be difficult, assuming that neither of them was exaggerating in the first place.</p><p>Luckily, as science marches on, it can provide new ways to investigate the past. An international team of researchers has managed to use isotopes from stalagmites in Northern Italy to better understand what the weather was like in the sixth century and to provide evidence for some fantastic historical records.</p><p><strong>Ancient truths hidden in a cave</strong></p><p>In a recent<a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-021-03043-x" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <u>study</u></a> published in <em>Climatic Change</em>, researchers investigated <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/27/science/stalagmites-physics-caves.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>stalagmites</u></a> in a cave in Tuscany. Stalagmites, which are the pointy rock formations on the ground in caves, provide a record of the environmental conditions they formed in. By examining different parts of the stalagmites, the team could determine what the climate was like, for instance if it was wetter or drier than normal, at different points in history. Uranium-thorium dating was used to provide precise dates for these points.</p><p>Oxygen isotope ratios were then measured to distinguish between wetter and drier periods. Combining this with the uranium-thorium data, the researchers could compile a timeline of climate activity over several hundred years. The oxygen isotope ratios in the sixth century indicated unusually wet weather. </p><p>The authors speculate that the moisture could have come from the North Atlantic Oscillation's negative phase, which tends to push moist air into Italy. </p><p><strong>The water miracles of the Italian saints<br></strong></p><p><br></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-lazyloadable-image rm-shortcode" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTk0NzUxOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MDU2MDkxOH0.881OjSSPqB0P6VnECTgaPeYaXJ4f7zbe9dRKMzUtiWI/img.jpg?width=980" id="8097c" width="1181" height="1206" data-rm-shortcode-id="2f0a10d1d4730135561c544ea3ae7d05" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption..." spellcheck="false">Stalagmite Sample RL12, which was the focus of this study. Points on the sample that were used for dating and isotope collection are labeled. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Zanchetta et al</small></p><p>While these findings provide strong evidence for lots of rain in Sixth Century Italy, this isn't the first report to suggest that the weather might have been extreme at the time.</p><p>Records of the saints from that time feature numerous examples of holy men somehow controlling troublesome water. One, the tale of<a href="http://catholicsaints.info/saint-frigidian-of-lucca/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> <u>St. Frigidian</u></a>, features the saint successfully commanding the Serchio river to flow into a raked track he created, saving Lucca from flooding. A fifth of the miracles described in the <em>Dialogues on the Miracles of the Italian Fathers</em>, a record of saints, are "water miracles" of this kind.</p><p>While it is true that some of the most noteworthy miracles in the Bible involve water , such as the parting of the Red Sea by Moses, the miracles described in <em>Dialogues</em> are often unique feats with no obvious literary precursor, suggesting that they aren't repeats of existing stories in a new setting. </p><p>Additionally, French religious documents from the same period have no similar emphasis on water miracles. This suggests, though does not prove, that the Italians had separate motivations for listing so many of them.</p><p><strong>Does this mean we can start trusting any old document?</strong><br><em></em><em></em></p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="430" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JbvDYyoAv9k" title="YouTube video player" width="730"></iframe></div><p><br></p><p>Co-author Robert Wiśiewski of the University of Warsaw explained how documents like the <em>Dialogues</em> can be used to help improve our understanding of <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/mpif-ipa032921.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><u>history</u></a>:</p><p>"Literary sources, in particular stories about saints, should not be taken as a direct record of past events, They do, however, reflect the worldview of church writers and the basis for their interpretation of extraordinary weather phenomena."</p>
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Study: Does the label "straight" worsen perceptions of gay people?
A new study explores how using positive labels to describe a majority group may negative impact perceptions of minority groups.
24 March, 2021
Credit: Pixabay
- In a recent study published in The Journal of Sex Research, heterosexual people were asked to rate their impressions of fictitious men.
- Some of the fictitious men were described as "heterosexual," the others as "straight."
- Across multiple studies, participants reported worse impressions of gay men after being exposed to the word "straight," but only if the participants were highly religious.
<p>It's no surprise that using negative language to refer to a minority group can produce negative effects among those being targeted. But what about using positive language to refer to a majority group? Could doing so suggest negative ideas about the minority group?</p><p>Noting a "surprising" lack of research on this question, a new study titled "If I Am Straight You Are Askew": Labelling Heterosexuals as Straight Worsen Gay Men's Perception" (published in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00224499.2020.1825605" target="_blank">The Journal of Sex Research</a>) aimed to fill the gap by exploring whether referring to heterosexual people as "straight" produces negative perceptions of gay men.</p><p>Previous research suggests people associate moral perceptions with certain spatial concepts. For example, one <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ejsp.2358" target="_blank">study</a> found that people are more likely to prefer straight figures after recalling moral deeds. </p><p>The researchers behind the recent study noted that those prior findings proved "true not only in the European language but also in Chinese, Arabic, and Russian, thus suggesting this relation to be spread in different cultural contexts."</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Giving a look at the dictionary, <em>straight</em> is defined as continuing in one direction without curving (adv.), being without bend (adj.), being honest and respectable (adj.) and being heterosexual (adj.)," study author Simona Sacchi , a professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca, told <a href="https://www.psypost.org/2021/03/the-label-straight-negatively-impacts-judgments-of-gay-men-among-highly-religious-people-60085" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">PsyPost</a>. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"For this reason we decided to investigate the possible impact of this association between straightness (related to morality) and heterosexuality on social perception and prejudice towards sexual minorities."</p><p>To examine how the word "straight" might affect heterosexual participants' perceptions of gay men, Sacchi and her colleagues conducted three studies involving 275 English-speaking and 131 Italian-speaking participants. The researchers collected data on participants' levels of religiosity and prejudice against gay men, as measured by the <a href="https://www.midss.org/content/modern-homonegativity-scale-mhs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Modern Homonegativty Scale</a>.</p>
<img
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<p>In the first study, participants were shown a fictitious Facebook profile belonging to a man named James. All participants read the same profile describing James, except for one difference: Half of the participants read that he was "heterosexual," while the other half read that he was "straight."</p><p>Then, both groups were shown a fictitious Facebook profile of a man named Chris, who was described as gay. The researchers asked participants to rate their impressions of Chris. The results showed that participants who had been recently exposed to the word "straight" tended to report worse perceptions of Chris, however this was true only among participants with higher levels of religiosity and prejudice.</p><p>The researchers conducted the same study again, but this time they included a third group of participants who read a profile of James that didn't describe him as "straight" or "heterosexual."</p><p>The second study produced similar results: Highly religious participants reported worse impressions of Chris after being exposed to the label "straight," although in general there wasn't a significant difference between the three groups ("heterosexual," "straight" and control).</p><p>The first two studies involved participants who commonly used the word "straight" to refer to heterosexual people. But what about cultures that don't use such language?</p><img
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Credit: Sacchi et al.
<p>The researchers decided to conduct a third study in Italy, where people don't use the word "straight" to refer to heterosexual people. In the study, all participants were asked to classify 20 pictures. Ten pictures showed heterosexual couples, while the other ten showed non-romantic partners, such as a pair of police officers.</p><p>The first group of participants was asked to apply the Italian word for "straight" ("retti") to pictures of people in romantic relationships, and to label those who weren't as "other" ("altro"). Meanwhile, the second group was asked to perform the same task, but to label the romantic couples with the Italian word for yellow ("gialli").</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The word "gialli" was selected because this is a common, neutral adjective, related to a visual feature (in this case, color instead of shape) and unrelated to sexual orientation," the researchers wrote.</p><p>Again, the results showed that being exposed to the word "straight" tended to worsen participants' perceptions of gay men — but only for highly religious participants. Interestingly, all three studies showed that participants low in religiosity actually reported better impressions of gay men after reading the word "straight."</p><img
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<p class=""><br></p>Hering illusion
Credit: Gwestheimer via Wikipedia
<p>The researchers said their study is the first to examine the consequences of using positive language to describe majority groups, and that they hope the results will lead to "fruitful" future research to better understand the effects of positive labeling.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We should remember that modern prejudice is often subtle, indirect, invisible to the perpetrator, and revealed more by ingroup favoritism than explicit outgroup derogation," Sacchi told PsyPost. "In contemporary society, ingroup-directed favoritism and accentuated positive feelings, as sympathy and admiration, toward ingroup members could be the 'modern' basis for discrimination."</p>
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Mysterious "Plain of Jars" in Laos has been dated
After years of speculation a team of researchers has pinpointed the age of this ancient mystery.
24 March, 2021
Credit: Louise Shewan, et al.
- The Plain of Jars consists of over 90 sites containing thousands of jars scattered across Laos.
- According to new research, these jars were constructed sometime between 1240 and 660 BCE.
- In 2019, UNESCO named a cluster of 11 regions as a World Heritage Site.
<p>The stone jar sites scattered around Laos are considered the most unique and important archaeological finds in all of Southeast Asia. In total, over 90 sites have been identified, with each site containing between one and 400 jars, some of which weigh up to 20 tons. </p><p>Carved of rock and cylindrically-shaped, the predominantly undecorated jars—only one features a "frogman" etched into its exterior—vary in shape and size, though they are predominantly constructed of sandstone. Other materials used include breccia, conglomerate, granite, and limestone. The jars range from one to three meters tall. </p><p>The purpose of these jars has long been debated. Given their proximity to funerary grounds, they might have served a ritual purpose or merely marked where the dead were buried. They might have housed cremated remains. A more pragmatic purpose has been put forward: to collect monsoon rainwater. </p><p>The Plain of Jars, as this network is known, was heavily bombed by the United States Air Force in the 1960s. In fact, the USAF dropped more bombs on Laos (specifically, these jar sites) than in the entirety of World War II—a total of 262 million cluster bombs. Some 80 million remain undetonated, making them a daily threat to the population of Laos today.</p><p>Protective measures are now being taken. In 2019, UNESCO designated a <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1587/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">group of 11 of these regions</a> as a World Heritage Site. The organization notes that these sites represent a historical crossroads between the Mun-Mekong system and the Red River/Gulf of Tonkin system, noting that beyond ritual purpose, they could have been utilized by travelers in some capacity—hence the rainwater theory. </p><p>After decades of speculation and research, a team led by two Australian researchers and one Laotian researcher <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0247167" target="_blank">have dated these jars</a>. Using a fossil-dating technology known as Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), the team examined sediment from underneath jars at 120 different locations, discovering that they were constructed sometime between 1240 and 660 BCE.</p>
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<p class=""><br></p>View to the southwest at megalithic jar Site 1.
Credit: Louise Shewan, et al.
<p>Dr. Louise Shewan from the University of Melbourne explains,</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"With these new data and radiocarbon dates obtained for skeletal material and charcoal from other burial contexts, we now know that these sites have maintained enduring ritual significance from the period of their initial jar placement into historic times." </p><p>How the jars were moved around Laos remains unknown. As with other ancient mysteries—the various henges around Scotland and England; the interconnected network of cities in the Harappan civilization—understanding the rituals associated with and technologies used to create awe-inspiring monuments remains a dream for many archaeologists. </p><p>The team behind this research plans on examining more samples from these Laotian jars—a particularly daunting challenge considering less than 10 percent of jar sites have been cleared of American explosives. Shewan is excited about the prospects of what further testing could reveal, however. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We expect that this complex process will eventually help us share more insights into what is one of Southeast Asia's most mysterious archaeological cultures."</p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a>. His most recent book is</em> "<em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KRVMP2M?pf_rd_r=MDJW43337675SZ0X00FH&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy</a>."</em></p>
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New study finds religion alleviates depression. Is it enough?
Intrinsic religiosity has a protective effect against depression symptoms.
22 March, 2021
Credit: ijeab / Adobe Stock
- According to new research, intrinsic religiosity has a protective effect against depression symptoms.
- Religion was only a pipeline, however—a sense of meaning mattered most.
- With increasing rates of depression globally, religion could be a "natural antidepressant" for some.
<p>The question of meaning remains one of life's greatest inquiries. Is religion necessary for deriving meaning? Can a modern, secular Buddhist approach work better, in which meaning is derived in moment-by-moment perception instead of reserving faith for a revelation at some future point?</p><p>These questions won't be answered here, though <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43076-020-00036-0" target="_blank">new research</a> from Brazilian researchers has found that religion alleviates depressive symptoms in believers. Published in the journal Trends in Psychology, the researchers asked 279 volunteers (72 percent female) to respond to an online questionnaire that focused on intrinsic religiosity, meaning in life, and levels of anxiety and depression. </p><p>The team concludes, "intrinsic religiosity has a protective effect against depression symptoms; however, it occurs indirectly, via meaning in life." </p><p>The authors note that 4.4 percent of the global population suffers from depression, with women 1.5 to 3 times more likely to experience depressive symptoms. Religion, it appears, provides a bedrock for communing with the sacred. They define religion as the general "beliefs, practices, and rituals related to the sacred and vary according to each religious tradition." Intrinsic religiosity, the focus of this research, skews toward individual relationships with the sacred, not utilitarian values—the extrinsic dimension.</p>
Religion Is Nature's Antidepressant | Robert Sapolsky
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="696112c3dd6fb7507a8d4e8220f46d8f"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oldj11NEsc0?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>The question of meaning in life and religion has been a hot topic of late. Leigh Stein <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/opinion/influencers-glennon-doyle-instagram.html" target="_blank">recently pinpointed</a> the emerging trend of influencers being treated as moral authorities, to which she pointed to decreasing faith as a potential reason: void of traditional religion, people are searching for meaning in digital spaces.</p><p>She writes that 22% of millennials now identify as "nones." The broader religious landscape in America has shifted dramatically in the last generation. According to a <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/" target="_blank">2019 Pew poll</a>, American adults claiming Christianity dropped 12 points in the last decade. Overall, 26% of adults identify as "none."</p><p>"None" is an umbrella term signifying an atheist, agnostic, or someone not interested in anything in particular. Sometimes this includes dabblers who pull from a variety of traditions without feeling invested in one. Stein noticed that wellness influencers have rushed in to fill a void, intentionally or not. As she writes, </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I was once one of those millennials who made politics her religion; I lasted three years as a feminist activist and organizer before I burned out in 2017. That's when I began noticing how many wellness products and programs were marketed to women in pain, and how the social media industry relies on keeping us outraged and engaged. It's no wonder we're seeking relief."</p><p>Shadi Hamid <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/america-politics-religion/618072/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">occupies a similar place</a>, though he identifies tribal political affiliations as the replacement for religion—specifically, to replace meaning. He claims a quarter of American adults qualify as "none," noting that less than half are traditionally religious, i.e. Christan church attendees, based on a <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/248837/church-membership-down-sharply-past-two-decades.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2019 Gallup poll</a>. Hamid argues that this pivot occurred when religion left our lives. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"As Christianity's hold, in particular, has weakened, ideological intensity and fragmentation have risen. American faith, it turns out, is as fervent as ever; it's just that what was once religious belief has now been channeled into political belief. Political debates over what America is supposed to mean have taken on the character of theological disputations. This is what religion without religion looks like."</p><img
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<p class=""><br></p>Credit: sutichak / Adobe Stock
<p>Hamid believes the Left and Right channel their political-religious hybrids differently: the woke Left repurpose original sin, atonement, ritual, and excommunication as pathways to creating a more just society while the Right has stripped much of the religion from their religion in order to focus their existential angst into blood and soil themes. QAnon, for example, is essentially a religious doctrine, requiring of its devotees the same leaps of faith.</p><p>Stein looks at the politicization of religion—really, the religiosity of politics—as a failure of imagination. Why, she wonders, have people put their faith in memoir-selling, supplement-slinging influencers instead of people who have actually accomplished something in their lives other than turnkey marketing campaigns? Why would we turn to so-called leaders incapable of even attempting to answer life's big questions, or at the very least offer solace in the face of uncertainty, the classical role of religious leaders? </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"There is a chasm between the vast scope of our needs and what influencers can provide. We're looking for guidance in the wrong places. Instead of helping us to engage with our most important questions, our screens might be distracting us from them. Maybe we actually need to go to something like church?"</p><p>The research team in Brazil might agree. One defining symptom of depression is an inability to foresee a better future. The global number might be 4.4 percent, but in America, the number is <a href="https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml" target="_blank">closer to 8 percent</a>. America, now considered the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/07/07/richest-countries-in-the-world/39630693/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">twelfth wealthiest country in the world</a>, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/india-is-the-most-depressed-country-in-the-world-mental-health-day-2018-1360096-2018-10-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ranked third</a> in terms of depression. Money is never going to buy happiness. </p><p>Will religion? While the track record is spotty, this new research entertains an intrinsic sense of belief in the sacredness of life as a natural antidepressant, as Robert Sapolsky phrased it. During a time of growing unease, the suspension of disbelief might be what the doctor ordered—for some at least. </p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a>. His most recent book is</em> "<em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KRVMP2M?pf_rd_r=MDJW43337675SZ0X00FH&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy</a>."</em></p>
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Can you be scientific and spiritual?
Spirituality can be an uncomfortable word for atheists. But does it deserve the antagonism that it gets?
19 March, 2021
- While the anti-scientific bias of religious fundamentalism requires condemnation, if we take a broader view, does the human inclination towards spiritual practice still require the same antagonism? The answer, I think, is a definitive "No."
- Rather than ontological claims about what exists in the universe, the terms spiritual and sacred can describe the character of an experience. Instead of a "thing" they can refer to an attitude or an approach.
- One can be entirely faithful to the path of inquiry and honesty that is science while making it one aspect of a broader practice embracing the totality of your experience as a human being in this more-than-human world.
<p><span>The tension between science and religion is old news to us moderns. Historical events like the Catholic Church's </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">trial of Galileo</a><span> or the </span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Scopes-Trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Scopes Monkey Trial</a><span> over teaching Darwin in schools, seem to imply that religion and science are incompatible. More recently, writers like </span><a href="https://bigthink.com/u/richarddawkins" target="_self">Richard Dawkins</a><span>, </span><a href="https://bigthink.com/u/danieldennett" target="_self">Daniel Dennett</a>,<span> and other '</span><a href="https://iep.utm.edu/n-atheis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New Atheists'</a><span> have been vigorous in their condemnation of the anti-scientific bias of religious fundamentalism. But if we take a broader view beyond these fundamentalisms, if we ask about the human inclination towards spiritual practice in general, do we still have to find the same antagonism? The answer, I think, is a definitive "No." And that answer is important as we consider the totality of what it means to be human.</span></p>
<p>First, it's important to distinguish between religion and what I'll call spiritual practice. In his excellent book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062316117?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sapiens</a>," Yuval Noah Harari defines religion as "a system of human norms and values that is founded in the belief in a superhuman order." There are two parts of this definition that are important for our discussion. First is the "system of human norms." That phrase points to a lot of stuff, but it also means politics. There is an aspect of organized religion that has always been about establishing and enforcing social norms: Who is an authority; who justifies who is in charge; who marries whom; who tells you how to behave. This aspect of religion is about power within social hierarchies. </p>
<p>The second part of Harari's definition refers to a "superhuman order." Note that he does not say a "supernatural" order. Why? Because some religions like Buddhism don't pivot around the existence of an all-powerful deity. This distinction is important because it allows you to see a point many scholars of religion have made after looking at the long human history of what I'll call <em data-redactor-tag="em">spiritual endeavor</em>. From our beginnings as hunter-gathers, we have always been responding to a sense of a "superhuman order." That response has taken many different forms from beautiful paintings on <a href="https://www.oldest.org/artliterature/cave-paintings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cave walls</a> to beautiful paintings on the ceiling of the <a href="https://m.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani-mobile/en/collezioni/musei/cappella-sistina/storia-cappella-sistina.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sistine Chapel</a>. </p>
<blockquote>Even though I consider myself an atheist, experiences of a superhuman order have been with me since I was a kid. </blockquote>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520265866?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank">first book</a>, I looked in depth at this response, its history, and its relation to science. Even though I consider myself an atheist, experiences of a superhuman order have been with me since I was a kid. Heck, that's what science was to me—an order expressible in mathematics beyond the purely human. In fact, many of my deepest <em>experiences</em> of being alive had come to me through my scientific practice. Working through some line of mathematical reasoning or encountering some image of a nebula or galaxy, I'd get thrust into an overwhelming sense of the universe's presence, of its perfect unity and wholeness. At first, I saw the laws of physics as the source of that order but as I got older my focus widened.</p>
<p>Now, one could say that my experiences were "just awe" and nothing more. But as the great scholar of religion, <a href="https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln101/Otto.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rudolph Otto</a> noted, awe is the essential component of a spiritual experience. It is an encounter with what other scholars have called "sacredness."</p>
<p>So, what are we to make of these words "spiritual" and "sacred"? Some strident atheists recoil at these terms because they believe they must entail a belief in supernatural entities. This is a mistake. Both can point to something much broader. Rather than ontological claims about what exists in the universe, <em>spiritual</em> and <em>sacred</em> can describe the character of an experience. Instead of a "thing", they can refer to an attitude or an approach. This is the central point William James made in his masterwork "<a href="https://www.giffordlectures.org/lectures/varieties-religious-experience" target="_blank">The Varieties of Religious Experience</a>." To speak about sacredness is to understand that some experiences (the birth of your child, coming upon a silent forest glade, hearing a powerful symphony) <em>evoke an order that is more than just our thoughts about that order</em>. And to speak of "the spiritual" can call to the highest aspects of the human spirit: compassion, kindness, empathy, generosity, love.</p><p>This kind of understanding of spiritual and sacred have always been with us and they may, or may not, have anything to do with a particular religion. This is where we can draw a distinction between a spiritual practice and a religious one. In a spiritual practice, people purposely attempt to deepen their lived sense of the superhuman order they experience. It is, literally, a practice. You work on it every day, perhaps using meditation or ritual or service to others. The methods differ but the daily application and aspiration are the same.</p><p>The important point is that spiritual practice has a purpose: <em>transformation</em>. It is to become a person who lives in accord with that sense of experienced order, that sacredness. Such a lifelong aspiration and effort can happen within an individual religious tradition <em>if</em> there are domains within that tradition that truly support this kind of interior work. Unfortunately, the politics of religion can sometimes keep this from happening. As scholars Joseph Campbell, Walter Houston Clark, and others have said, church can be a <a href="https://www.context.org/iclib/ic12/campbell/" target="_blank">"vaccination" against the real thing.</a></p><p>It's also possible to build such a practice outside of established religious tradition. In that case, the difficulty comes in inventing forms that can support a lifelong practice. There is something to be said for traditions or rituals that have endured for many generations and the best of these often occur within some religious traditions.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="46553a3ddf4bda814b15d6f0e9e0eb9e"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zLKNvBdUtZY?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>The bottom line is human beings have felt the need for spiritual practice for a long, long time. That means that even as participation in traditional religions <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">drops</a>, people claiming to be "spiritual but not religious" and people who embrace science continue to grow. The writer <a href="https://annakaharris.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Annaka Harris</a> and her spouse New Atheist <a href="https://samharris.org/books/the-end-of-faith/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sam Harris</a> are, for example, strong defenders of science. They have also both <a href="https://samharris.org/how-to-meditate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">written</a> about the importance of contemplative practice in their lives.</p><p>I have long argued that science is one way that the aspiration to know the true and the real is expressed. It is one way we express that sense of an order beyond us. But there are other ways that go beyond descriptions and explanation, and all of them make up the totality of being human. That means you can embrace science in all its power and still embed it within the larger context of human experience. All of us can be entirely faithful to the path of inquiry and honesty that <em>is</em> science while making it one aspect of a practice meant to embrace the fullness of your experience as a human in this more-than-human world.</p>
<div>Adam Frank is the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0520265866?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank">"The Constant Fire"</a><br></div><div class="rm-shortcode amazon-assets-widget" data-rm-shortcode-id="164a571abb235d6494d6cb672dbe8eb2" contenteditable="false">
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