Waking Up Your Spiritual Brain: Part 2

July 6, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In the 1920s, Carl Jung sat with his back to a window, listening to a young woman describe a dream in which she was given a golden scarab, a beetle sacred in ancient Egyptian culture. As she spoke, Jung heard a tapping behind him. He turned to see a flying insect knocking against the windowpane. It was a scarabaeid beetle, the closest local analogue to a golden scarab. Jung opened the window and caught it. He called this event synchronicity—not a mere coincidence, but a tap on the shoulder, an invitation into deeper meaning.

Columbia University psychologist Lisa Miller has spent decades studying the brain's capacity for this kind of transcendent awareness. On this episode of Hidden Brain, she argues that we have two mental modes: the "achieving brain," focused on goals and outcomes, and the "awakened brain," open to meaning, connection, and guidance. Synchronicities, she says, are not random events to be dismissed by the achieving brain. They are signals that the awakened brain can use to navigate life. Miller illustrates this with the most personal story she has: her own journey through infertility, adoption, and what she calls "spiritual twins."

The road of trials

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What you'll learn

1 (00:00) **Introduction: The Scarab and Synchronicity** - Shankar Vedantam opens with Carl Jung's story of the scarab beetle, introducing the concept of synchronicity as a meaningful coincidence.
2 (01:55) **Recap: The Awakened Brain vs. The Achieving Brain** - Recap of Lisa Miller's framework from Part 1: the achieving brain (goals) and the awakened brain (meaning, connection, transcendence).
3 (05:21) **Lisa Miller's Personal Story: The Road of Trials** - Miller shares her excruciating five-year journey of infertility, failed IUIs and IVFs, and the spiritual crisis it triggered.
4 (08:06) **Synchronicities as Guidance** - Miller describes specific synchronicities that pointed her toward adoption.
5 (12:34) **The Shift: From Conception to Love** - A phone call from her mother about a neighbor's adoption helps Miller reframe parenting as love and commitment, not biological conception.
6 (15:44) **The Path to Adoption and a Second Mystical Visit** - Miller and her husband begin the adoption process, guided by more synchronicities.
7 (22:00) **The Third Visit and Spiritual Twins** - The presence returns a third time; she answers "Absolutely" to adoption.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Lisa Miller

Show Notes

Last week, we talked with psychologist Lisa Miller about the science of spirituality. Today, we explore what those ideas can look like in everyday life. Miller explains why moments of connection, spiritual practices, and even periods of suffering can sometimes open the door to deeper meaning and growth. And on Your Questions Answered, behavioral scientist Dave Evans returns to respond to your comments on designing a meaningful life.

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Episode illustration by Riswan Ratta for Unsplash+

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