The Science of Spirituality We Can No Longer Ignore
Before I say anything about this book, I should say that I adore Dr Lisa Miller.
Watch almost any podcast interview with her and you will understand why immediately. She brings extraordinary warmth, intelligence and humanity to work that could so easily feel abstract or academic.
I am also deeply grateful for her tireless research over the past 30 years, and for her willingness to be a voice for something our culture – and our advancement as humanity – desperately needs.
Why?
Because we will never fully understand human potential while pretending the spiritual dimension of the human being does not exist.
The business world is beginning to recognise that people are psychological, physical and emotional beings. But we remain reluctant to acknowledge the spiritual: our relationship with something greater than ourselves, our experience of meaning and connection, and our capacity to receive guidance beyond the analytical mind.
This is why The Awakened Brain by Dr Lisa Miller landed so powerfully for me.
Everything I have witnessed through my own work – particularly within The Field – points towards what Miller has spent three decades studying: that spiritual awareness is not simply a belief. It is an innate human capacity.
Why this book matters
Within The Field, I repeatedly witness people move beyond the noise of the thinking, analytical mind into a more receptive state. Insights emerge that they could not have reasoned their way towards. Words, ideas and guidance appear to arrive through them rather than being consciously constructed by them.
Within a committed community, striking moments of shared meaning and coherence also occur.
From this place, I have repeatedly watched people move beyond old stories – who they thought they were, who they believed they had to be, the weight of the past, grief, shame and survival – and into their gifts, calling and a profound sense of clarity, peace, freedom and internal coherence.
These shifts matter not only for how we experience life, but for how we work, lead, create and make decisions.
Miller’s research offers an important scientific framework through which we can begin to understand these experiences.
From the brain as factory to the brain as receiver
Throughout much of the 20th century, the brain was understood rather like a factory or production line: physical processes within it created thought and consciousness.
Miller introduces another possibility.
The brain may also function like an antenna or receiver.
An awakened brain is one that has become more attuned to love, guidance, connection and a reality greater than the separate self. Miller argues that we are naturally equipped for this spiritual awareness. It is our birthright, whether it is expressed through a particular religion or not.
The implications for mental health
The implications are significant.
In one longitudinal study, people at high familial risk of depression who considered religion or spirituality highly important had a 90% lower risk of developing major depression.
Miller also reports that a strong personal spirituality is associated with an 80% lower risk of addiction, while a shared spiritual life among young people is associated with an 82% lower likelihood of completed suicide.
Her brain-imaging research has also connected sustained spirituality with greater cortical thickness in areas vulnerable to recurrent depression.
These findings do not suggest that spirituality replaces medical or psychological care.
They do suggest that any understanding of mental health that excludes the spiritual dimension is incomplete.
Why community matters
Crucially, Miller emphasises both a personal relationship with something greater and the importance of shared spiritual life: prayer, meditation, service, nature, sacred practice and spiritually grounded community.
We are strengthened not only by what we experience alone, but by what we practise and remember together.
An essential read
The Awakened Brain is more than a book about spirituality or wellbeing.
It challenges our underlying understanding of what a human being is – and offers scientific language for realities that spiritual traditions have described for thousands of years.
For anyone interested in consciousness, mental health, leadership or human potential, this is an absolute must-read.
I believe it is a book of genuine historical importance.
