Is Spirituality a Symptom of Mental Illness?
Is spirituality a symptom of mental illness? Or is it the cure?
If you consider yourself a spiritual being, are you simply suffering from delusions, in the same sense that mental illness causes psychosis? Some theologians like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Law think so. Barring the obvious gaff in their argument— conflating “spirituality” with religion, let’s explore this debate. If this is true, then the majority of humanity is afflicted with various affections of the same spiritual psychosis. And as such, wouldn’t believing in a higher power or divine force be the baseline by which neurodivergence is gauged?
Therefore, wouldn’t the incapacity to understand oneself as a spiritual being be more reasonably considered a symptom of an atheist's spiritual disability, not unlike a narcissist's inability to conceive of empathy?
Perhaps the broad, universal phenomenon of spirituality can not be relegated into the category of mere delusion brought upon by a collective mental illness. In fact, having a strong sense of spirituality is generally considered to be a positive influence on a person’s mental health, according to medical experts. According to WebMD:
“It encourages people to have better relationships with themselves, others, and the unknown. Spirituality can help you deal with stress by giving you a sense of peace, purpose, and forgiveness. It often becomes more important in times of emotional stress or illness.”
Perhaps spirituality is not the delusion, but rather, the inverse:
The perceived absence of spirituality is in fact a delusion, more akin to a symptom of mental illness according to institutional standards for determining neurodivergence.
We are delusional if we believe the world is only as real as the ways in which we can observe or measure it at any given moment. Scientific advancement prove that there is far more to this world than meets the eyes on a daily basis. Furthermore, the repression, subjugation, negation and dismissal of our innate spiritualities may be at the root of society’s division and collective dis-ease, today. Acknowledging the co-constitutive existence of spirituality and science may be the key to reclaiming our collective mental and physical health.
But what is spirituality? How is it different from religiosity? And how does it influence the advent and progression of modern science? Criticisms of spirituality often stem from its conflation with religion.
To me, spirituality is the recognition of one’s soul as being connected to a divine source, and the commonality of its interconnected existence with other souls.
Spirituality is rooted in autonomy and the freedom to evolve alongside our notions of the world and our individual purpose within it. It is cultivated throughout our lifetime in ongoing communication with the divine and truths we decipher through the culmination of our lived experiences. Spirituality is embracing the unknowable and finding peace in an inherently indefinable relationship to a higher power, which we may choose to celebrate and strengthen through rituals that reflect the creation of deeper meaning in our lives.
Religion is an institutionalized human construct that attempts to dictate the spiritual beliefs, worldviews and behaviors of its followers. It claims that the expanse of spirituality is inherently knowable, hegemonic and stratified according to externally sourced and homogenized rules. In many ways, it is the opposite of spirituality.
Now, what is science? The scientific method was discovered through the advent of the natural sciences, which came into being as a means of deciphering spiritual realities via the observation of Creation.
So, spirituality and science have always been intrinsically linked.
We can not attempt to fathom the ways of the universe without first questioning what underlying purpose motivates causation. And we can not attempt to fathom the foundational drive inside every living being to survive and thrive without acknowledging the existence of evolution and natural laws. We can not fathom our spiritual role within the physical world without witnessing how the two realms interact through the lens of our own consciousness.
Everyday, the seemingly distinct realms of spirituality and empirical science find more and more instances where they inexplicably overlap. Modern theories and research findings spanning the fields of quantum physics, neuropsychology and medicine are discovering vast intersections with esoteric knowledge rooted in ancient spiritual practices.
Today, scientists have access to technologies and data that in many ways affirm the beliefs and knowledges passed down for millennia within Eastern and indigenous cultures, aligning spiritual and scientific truths.
For example, we can prove the efficacy of meditation and mindfulness as legitimate modalities for neurological and emotional development through measuring brain waves with ECG machines. We can identify the energetic fields that emanate from all living beings, and observe how soundwaves interact with them.
The manipulation of energy through intentional practices is the epistemological basis for widespread spiritual phenomena, such as qi, chakras, auras and some shamanistic healing rituals. Experiments conducted in the field of quantum physics point towards the existence of interconnected consciousness, and routinely exemplify the reality of particles behaving in unexpected ways simply through the act of observation, via the double slit test. Observing the world as a composition of energies susceptible to manipulation through our own consciousness is a way of understanding the power of intention as a tool for manifesting our realities.
