The Science Behind Why Religion Actually Works | David DeSteno
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What are the benefits of spiritual practices according to research?
What would happen if you took the world's major religions, set aside the theology for a moment, and studied just the rituals? The meditation, the chanting, the prayers of gratitude, the contemplation of death, the communal meals, the morning practices. Study them as technologies. Technology is designed to work on your mind and body in specific, measurable ways. That's what my guest today, David DeSteno, has done. He's a professor of psychology at Northeastern and the author of How God Works. And he runs a social emotions group where his lab studies the mechanics behind compassion, gratitude, moral behavior, and increasingly morality. Why the data on people who are engaged in spiritual practice and often who believe in God are so striking.
We're talking a 30% lower all-cause mortality, less depression, greater sense of meaning, better health outcomes across the board. And here's what makes this conversation lend differently than most conversations about faith. Thank you for watching. And we are walking away from them at the exact moment we may need them most. In this conversation, we go into what he calls spiritual technologies. The rituals hiding in plain sight inside every major faith tradition that science is now revealing to be remarkably effective at helping us deal with loss, find meaning, build connection, and navigate the exact season of life that most of us listening are in right now. We talk about a Hindu concept called vanaprastha, the midlife pivot from accumulation to sharing wisdom, and why making that shift earlier might actually be the single most important thing you do for your happiness.
And we sit with the honest question of what it looks like to build a spiritual life if you've left the one you were raised in. This one really made me think and feel and want to just sit quietly afterwards. So excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. I have been somebody who's been fascinated by the role of spirituality, of faith, of religion in our lives for a long time. I remember a chunk of years ago stumbling upon a bit of research that effectively said that if you are somebody who is a person of faith, that... You're more likely to experience positive experiences and outcomes, whether that makes you happier, healthier, potentially even more, quote, successful.
Is this true?
I think it depends on exactly how you define those terms. So the data on religion and spirituality show a few things. One, I want to make it clear that What the data really look at is what's called religious or spiritual engagement. So it's not just saying, I believe in God. It is, are you actually going to services? If you're a person who is following a more Eastern philosophy, are you actually meditating? Are you doing the things that you're supposed to do in a faith? You know, in most of the world, religion is really about more of what you do than what you believe. But in the U.S., we have this notion because of Christianity that it's just about creed. But if you look at people who are actually engaging in some type of spiritual life, their health outcomes are far better.
Lower all-cause mortality, 30% lower over a 15-year period. Lower deaths due to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Greater... sense of meaning and flourishing in life, less depression. That's not always the same thing as being happy. I mean, on average, they're happy, right? And I'm sure you and your listeners have talked about this a lot. Being happy doesn't mean always being happy and never having kind of downturns or never suffering for the right reasons. But in general, their physical and mental health outcomes and just general well-being and sense of flourishing are higher. I haven't seen any data that link it to success in particular, though.
It is interesting, right? Because you made this immediate distinction between believing in God, whatever tradition you are, whatever that entity, that being, that experience. You made a distinction between the rote belief in something versus the practices, the rituals, the things built around it.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are the benefits of spiritual practices according to research?
0:00–8:47
2
How does the Hindu concept of vanaprastha relate to midlife transitions?
8:47–9:44
3
What rituals help us cope with loss and find meaning?
9:44–11:37
4
How can we build a spiritual life after leaving organized religion?
11:37–54:10
5
What role does community play in spiritual practices?
54:10–1:02:47
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Good Life Project
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