Spirituality Is Healthy and Innate

Quotes from an interesting article in the Deseret News, April 4, 2016:

"It is not a matter of opinion, it is scientific fact that there is nothing as profoundly protective against the most common forms of suffering in adolescence as a strong personal spiritual life."-- Lisa Miller, professor and director of clinical psychology at Columbia University.

"Starting with biological puberty, youths experience a "surge" in both spiritual capacity and curiosity, said Miller, director of the Spirituality & Mind Body Institute at Columbia and author of "The Spiritual Child: The New Science on Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving." When that surge is nurtured and encouraged, adolescents are 80 percent less likely to abuse substances, 60 percent less likely to battle depression and girls are 70 percent less likely to engage in "sexual risk taking."

"Even before scientific studies published in peer-reviewed journals provided clear evidence of the impact, Miller said she saw daily in her clinical practice that children who had a spiritual relationship with a higher power ..."had an entirely different course of recovery than a child who had no connection to a higher power."

"Cultivating a spiritual nature is not adding something that's foreign to children, either. "Spirituality is part of our core human endowment. This is from science," she said, noting that two-thirds of Americans embrace a faith tradition, while about 30 percent say they "feel spiritually connected" but have no faith tradition. For a small number, religion is about heritage but not religion.

"Children come with a spiritual compass. "Every child knows right from wrong. It may be irresistible," Miller joked, "but they know." They like prayer and ceremony. They relate to all living creatures, see family as a "spiritual event" and accept life and death as a continuum. That all shows spirituality is native — about 30 percent heritable — then life choices determine its future.
...
"Researchers see a hunger for meaning and spiritual questions that begin to surge from middle adolescence to emerging adulthood across cultures, Miller said. Teens who see their daily experience in a spiritual way walk a different life than those who do not; it's a healthier life that's less likely to derail.
...
"MRI images show that a sustained spiritual life over time increases cortical thickness in the brain. Cortical thickness is associated with high IQ, while depression and Alzheimer's disease are associated with cortical thinness, she said.

"Studies in India, China and the United States found that people who are spiritual feel interconnected and see love "as a force and not just an emotion," she said. They are altruistic, serving others and sharing, among other things."

-- Deseret News, April 4, 2016, "How your children's spirituality can help them overcome some of the most common forms of suffering"

It's no wonder I am so smart!  The cortical thickness of my brain must be unparalleled.  :-) If I had a scan of my brain they would say, "I have never seen a cortex wich those guts."  :-)

All humor aside, this is just another example of science proving what smart people like me already know -- that spirituality is innate and healthy for human beings.  We are all born with the light of Christ.  And living a sustained spiritual life actually makes you smarter!  This goes right along with my blog posts recently about sin making you stupid.  I've seen it firsthand. Now there is actual scientific evidence in organic brain changes based upon individual spirituality.  I find this kind of stuff very fascinating. I love science!

So, the moral of the story is: do what is right, keep the commandments, and stay close to the Lord and you will be much smarter than those who don't. I am living proof.  :-)

That's My Two Cents.