Scientists can't define spirituality. But we can study its healing effects, says Columbia professor Lisa Miller.

This interview is an episode from @The-Well our publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the @JohnTempletonFoundation .

Clinical psychologist Lisa Miller asserts that we are at epidemic levels of loneliness in modern society, and attributes this to a distorted perception of isolation. All humans are hardwired with neural circuits that allow us to realize our connection to a profound unit of consciousness, she explains — so why aren’t we recognizing it? Regardless of our faith, traditions, or spiritual beliefs, when humans enter spiritual awareness, our brains emit a specific wavelength called high amplitude alpha. This wavelength is known as the Schumann Resonance, the wavelength of nature and all life emitted by the Earth. This shared wavelength between humanity and all nature is a force of oneness that we can tap into through prayer, meditation, and mystical moments. Despite the loneliness we may feel, Miller asserts that in truth, we are interconnected with all beings — each of us a unit in a profound shared consciousness. Embracing spirituality, and practicing it with intention, can have a transformative impact on our lives, helping us to realize in times of difficulty that we are never really alone.

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About Lisa Miller: Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is a professor in the linical 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

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