Clinical psychologist Lisa Miller discusses the loss of “spiritual pluralism” in the U.S., which she believes was caused by our removing religion from the public square over the last 40 years. This, she says, led to the disconnected society we live in today, where many young adults lack a strong spiritual core.

Alongside this spiritual decline has been an uptick in diseases of despair: alcoholism, addiction, and suicide. However, Lisa suggests that we may be on the brink of a spiritual renaissance, with people waking up to the importance of spiritual exploration and connection in a world that demands rationality and productivity.

Lisa identifies three crucial stages of spiritual emergence in life: emerging adulthood, midlife, and elderhood, during which individuals experience growth and a hunger to love more deeply and contribute with meaning. Miller emphasizes the significance of reconnecting with spirituality and understanding ourselves more profoundly to lead fulfilling and purposeful lives.

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About Lisa Miller:

Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the Founder and Director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program and research institute in spirituality and psychology, and has held over a decade of joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical School.

Her innovative research has been published in more than one hundred peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Cerebral Cortex, The American Journal of Psychiatry, and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child