The Psychology Of Spirituality | Dr. Lisa Miller

Michael Gervais (0:00)

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Lisa Miller (1:05)

A strong high personal spirituality with or without religion turned out to be 80% protective against addiction. We now know 82% protective against completed suicide.

Michael Gervais (1:19)

Could we be overlooking one of the most important drivers of mental health?

Lisa Miller (1:23)

A strong personal spirituality is more protective against addiction, depression and suicide, the diseases of despair than anything else known to the clinical sciences.

Michael Gervais (1:34)

Welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast, where we dive into the minds of the world's greatest thinkers and doers. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais.

SPEAKER_3 (1:43)

A high performance psychologist named Michael Gervais.

Michael Gervais (1:46)

Who head coach Mike McDonald and former head coach Pete Carroll brought in to work with the Seahawks.

SPEAKER_3 (1:50)

Famous for his work with Felix Baumgartner when he jumped out of space in the Stratos Project.

SPEAKER_4 (1:55)

Olympic athletes depend on something more than just training and talent. They have to stay mentally tough.

Michael Gervais (2:01)

Today's guest is Dr. Lisa Miller, a clinical psychologist, a professor at Columbia University, and author of The Awakened Brain. Whose research challenges something many of us have been taught to overlook. That spirituality isn't optional and it isn't just religion. It's a core part of how we're wired.

Lisa Miller (2:17)

Spirituality is not a belief. It is an inborn capacity for perception. To be able to feel and know the presence of the deeper nature of life. Some people say the higher power, some people say the force of nature. My word is God. Whatever our conceptualization, what we know through science is that we are all born with the same neural correlates of what I call awakened awareness.

Michael Gervais (2:44)

In this conversation, we explore the science behind The Awakened Brain and how reconnecting to something deeper may not be a luxury but a necessity.

Lisa Miller (2:52)

Our achieving awareness is essential to execution. But execution alone is insufficient for a full and meaningful life because there's no amount of anything, money, fame, glory that can fill the spiritual hole in the heart.

Michael Gervais (3:04)

With that, let's jump into this week's conversation with Dr. Lisa Miller.

Lisa, your book did something really important. It introduced a concept that I know to be true, but didn't have language for it. And then you grounded it in research and science and an academic position that allowed me to feel safe in both the felt experience that I've had and the way that you named it, and also the way that you scrubbed, you know, in to really discern and think deeply about what does it rest on and the research to support your idea. So The Awakened Brain is what you introduced to me. And it's something that I have understood but didn't have language for. And I have thought deeply about the difference between being and doing. And it's the being me and the doing me, it's the close I could get to it. But I didn't have research to support it. And now I think I do.

And so one, welcome to the Mastery Lab. Thank you for being here. Thank you for the spirit and the way that you wrote the book and the research to support your ideas. And also the loveliness of the way that you enter a space. And so thank you for being here.

Lisa Miller (4:19)

Mike, I am so honored to be here. And I'm so delighted by your passionate inquiry. I mean, you just keep expanding.