AI Summary
5 min readIn a 19th-century poem, Thomas Hood wrote that as an adult he felt "farther off from heaven than when I was a boy." Psychologist Lisa Miller has spent three decades asking whether that lost sense of connection is an inevitable part of growing up — or a measurable human capacity that can be preserved and cultivated. On this episode of Hidden Brain, host Shankar Vedantam speaks with Miller about her research into the neuroscience of spirituality, the distinction between innate spiritual awareness and learned religion, and why the "awakened brain" may be as real and functional as the brain that plans, strategizes, and achieves.
The clinical spark
Miller's interest in spirituality began on a psychiatric inpatient unit in Manhattan. A patient with bipolar disorder, known for explosive outbursts, asked whether the unit would hold a Yom Kippur service. When told there were no plans, he threw a chair and stormed out. Miller, who is Jewish, organized a service herself. The same patient became a calm spiritual leader during the prayers. A woman with deep depression and shame realized, as she put it, that "we can be forgiven." Miller saw something happening in that kitchen that standard treatment had not produced. "Whatever had caged in their soul was superseded by the radiance in this moment of their spirit," she says.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:01) **Introduction: The Lost Sense of Wonder** - Shankar opens with Thomas Hood's poem about childhood awe and asks whether that transcendent connection is a real capacity we can revive as adults.
- 2 (03:34) **Guest Introduction: Lisa Miller** - Psychologist at Columbia University who studies the science of transcendence and spiritual awareness.
- 3 (03:54) **Case Study: Iliana's Loss and Transformation** - A 12-year-old girl devastated by her father's murder shows no progress in conventional therapy until a spiritual experience shifts her outlook.
- 4 (09:02) **A Spiritual Intervention on an Inpatient Unit** - Lisa describes organizing an informal Yom Kippur service for patients, which produces a profound shift in mood and behavior that standard treatment had not achieved.
- 5 (15:23) **Seeing the Spiritual Deficit in Everyday Life** - Lisa observes a low-grade malaise (dysthymia) in people on the subway and at dinner parties, contrasting it with the joy she saw in a man praying on the subway.
- 6 (17:17) **Personal Experience of Emptiness** - Lisa and her husband, despite successful careers, find themselves asking "is this really all there is?" and recognize a lopsided, achievement-oriented life.
- 7 (18:51) **Defining Dysthymia** - A low-grade, nagging depression and anhedonia that becomes a "livable" but hollow baseline, often masked by promotions and material markers.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Food, safety, and strong relationships are essential to our survival. Psychologist Lisa Miller says our brains also crave something else: transcendence. She suggests that spirituality is a universal human capacity, and that feeling connected to something larger than ourselves may be essential to a fulfilling life.
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Episode illustration by Karem Adem for Unsplash.
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