Pam King: Welcome to With & For, a podcast about spiritual health and thriving on purpose. I’m Dr. Pam King.
Hello, my friends. Happy Thanksgiving to you. That warmth and positive emotions so many of us feel in the midst of our gratitude really does contribute to our spiritual health and thriving.
Expressing this gratitude is just one way that we can awaken to joy and transcendence and a sense of our connectedness to the world.
I’m personally so grateful for my family, my friends, And my work with the Thrive Center, and I’m just really grateful for this experience of bringing this new podcast With and For into the world. And I’m grateful you’re listening right now.
We’re sharing a few short teasers leading up to our January launch in the new year.
Today, I’m excited to share a clip from my conversation with Dr. Lisa Miller. She’s the bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain. And she’s a researcher and professor in clinical psychology at the Teachers College of Columbia University.
In this clip from our conversation, Lisa shares about her findings in the science of spirituality; our innate capacities to perceive, to feel, and to know a transcendent relationship; and the amazing role of the human brain in seeking out this transcendence beyond ourselves.
Lisa Miller: I think the most important piece of science that I have found people to experience is very empowering, is that every single one of us is born with natural spirituality. There’s an innate human capacity, and just as we have two eyes, two ears, and a nose, we are born with the capacity through which to experience a transcendent Living relationship and we know that this is innate.
Because we look through a lens of twin studies, then we can see any human capacity through a twin study, the extent to which it’s innate or environmentally formed. So temperament, is about half innate, half environmentally formed. IQ is about 60 percent innate, 40 percent environmentally formed.
Well, this capacity to perceive and feel and know a transcendent relationship is one third innate. We are all born with the wiring hardwired, but two thirds environmentally formed gives way to a tremendous impact of our environment. course, includes childhood and adolescence, the first two decades of life, and parents should care very much about their two thirds embrace, their enormous impact on the formation of their own children’s spiritual core.
When we are in our 40s and onward living independently, we increasingly choose our environment. We choose the company we keep, we choose the community values, we choose the inner environment of our lives. Whether we pray and meditate, we choose our values. You know, increasingly, although this is our birthright, it must be cultivated, and it is an opportunity of our lifetimes to do that.
And we can’t get by without it. we did this with people’s sacred stories of the transcendent relationship. We invited 18 through 25 year olds to come in and tell us about a time where you felt a deep personal connection to God. I turned to God for guidance in times of difficulty.
And what we found was that whether someone was Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, spiritual, but not religious. Nature is my cathedral. The same neural correlates ran in every single person.
Pam King: Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for tuning in today and if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe right now in your favorite podcast app. Share it with your friends. Thanks. Bye. So you and they can join us on this journey launching in January, 2024.
With and For is a production of The Thrive Center at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Dr. Lisa Miller
Dr. Lisa Miller is bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain, and researcher and professor in clinical psychology at the Teachers College of Columbia University. Learn more on her website.
Episode Summary
“Every single one of us is born with natural spirituality.” This preview clip features Dr. Lisa Miller—bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain, and researcher and professor in clinical psychology at the Teachers College of Columbia University. Lisa shares about her findings in the science of spirituality; our innate capacities to perceive, to feel, and to know a transcendent relationship; and the amazing role of the human brain in seeking out this transcendence beyond ourselves. With & For is launching in January 2024! Subscribe now in your favorite podcast app.
- With & For is launching in January 2024! Subscribe now in your favorite podcast app.
- “Every single one of us is born with natural spirituality.”
- This preview clip features With & For guest Dr. Lisa Miller—bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain, and researcher and professor in clinical psychology at the Teachers College of Columbia University.
- Lisa shares about her findings in the science of spirituality; our innate capacities to perceive, to feel, and to know a transcendent relationship; and the amazing role of the human brain in seeking out this transcendence beyond ourselves.
Show Notes
- Don't forget to subscribe to With & For, which is launching in January 2024.
- Happy Thanksgiving from Dr. Pam King and The Thrive Center!
- How gratitude and positive emotion enlarge our capacity for joyful transcendence and activate our innate spirituality
- Pam King introduces Dr. Lisa Miller—bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain, and researcher and professor in clinical psychology at the Teachers College of Columbia University.
- "Every single one of us is born with natural spirituality."
- "This capacity to perceive and feel and know a transcendent relationship is one third innate. We are all born with the wiring, but two thirds environmentally formed gives way to a tremendous impact of our environment."
- "Although this is our birthright, it must be cultivated, and it is an opportunity of our lifetimes to do that."
- "We invited 18 through 25 year olds to come in and tell us about a time where you felt a deep personal connection to God. ... The same neural correlates ran in every single person."
About Dr. Pam King
Dr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. Follow her @drpamking.About With & For
- Host: Pam King
- Senior Director and Producer: Jill Westbrook
- Operations Manager: Lauren Kim
- Social Media Graphic Designer: Wren Juergensen
- Consulting Producer: Evan RosaSpecial thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.
About the Thrive Center
- Learn more at thethrivecenter.org.
- Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenter
- Follow us on X @thrivecenter
- Follow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter
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