The ONE and the ALL - An Evolutionary Approach to God, Self and Transcendence

At the end of the drama, his friend was able to rescue him from self-destruction and empower him to live happily and productively by carrying out his responsibilities in the last few months of his life. He did not find a miraculous cure for his cancer, but he learned that every day was a miracle. This guardian angel must have been trained by Dr. Viktor Frankl, because Frankl would have said exactly the same thing to this angry protagonist by confronting him and appealing to his sense of responsibility towards his mother and society.

I believe that John F. What are you doing for others? In sum, when you accept responsibility for your life and stop blaming others for your problems, you are on your way to recovering from your brokenness. When you accept responsibility toward life and start caring for others, you are on your way to becoming a fully functioning human being. Frankl challenges you to change your mindset from being a taker to becoming a giver.

What is there for me? What does life expect from me? The more that is given, the more that is expected. When your overall orientation is to give your best to the world, you are more likely to avoid the traps of success and become your best.

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Paradoxically, the more you serve others, the more likely you become a fully functioning human being. In addition, the intrinsic motivation of ST is more enduring than the contingent extrinsic rewards, and is, thus, more likely to lead to the highest level of personal development. From the perspective of evolutionary theory, Dr. Jonathan Haidt comes to the same conclusion. He argues that ST is a result of group selection, because religiosity or spirituality has adaptive advantages. In other words, trusting God and sticking together offer us the best chance of survival. Thus, the potential for ST or spirituality is in every human being.

Similarly, Joseph Pearce has also built a case for the biological basis of transcendence and Dean Hamer has provided evidence that religion or spirituality is found in our genes.

In other words, there is some scientific evidence that ST is a part of our genetic heritage. More importantly, Haidt also argues that ST provides the path of experiencing ecstasy and awe. He employs the metaphor of a staircase to ST Figure 1 , in which one accidentally opens a door and soon loses oneself in the wonders of a transcendental encounter that are powerfully different from the mundanity of everyday living.

Haidt also vividly describes such a transcendental experience in terms of religious conversion. A stairway to ST provides an overwhelming emotional experience in which one loses oneself in the presence of something sacred and awe-inspiring. In his old age, Dr. Abraham Maslow was puzzled by two questions: What motivates individuals who have already actualized? Why do some successful and self-actualized persons still behave badly?

His answer to these questions was to propose ST as the highest stage of personal growth Figure 2. In this stage, people will continue to be motivated to become fully functioning human beings by helping others to self-actualize. This stage is associated with peak experience and characterized by feelings of awe and ecstasy.

According to Maslow , ST represents the most holistic level of higher consciousness, relating to oneself, significant others, human beings in general, nature, and the cosmos. It is a transpersonal or spiritual dimension defined by connectiveness and sacredness. Even though all people have the potential for ST, some may be born with a stronger predisposition to serve God and others.

Thus, a person high on ST is keenly aware of being part of a larger whole—of being in a spiritual union with God or nature. This process is supposed to happen naturally. Tornstam has identified two factors in gero-transcendence: The former refers to an increasing feeling of cosmic communion with the spirit of the universe, while the latter refers to a decrease of interest in self-centeredness and material things and an increase in meditation.

ST represents the reality of individuals who enter the end-of-life stage, when the physical world fades away and the transcendental spiritual reality looms large for dying patients. Reed theorized that when individuals face life-threatening situations, they may expand their awareness of the self through accepting death as part of life, developing an interest in helping others, and finding spiritual meaning in life.

Why we love to lose ourselves in religion

Benevolence means being kind towards others or loving those close to you. Universalism means having a global perspective or seeing oneself as being connected with the universe or nature. Frankl conceptualizes ST as a primary spiritual motivation that stems from our spiritual nature; it seeks to express itself through our striving towards something greater than ourselves.

ST represents our spiritual need to be connected with others and with a higher power. The pursuit and attainment of transcendental values leads to deepest satisfaction because it fulfills the deepest yearning of our spiritual nature. When we lose ourselves in embracing our sacred responsibility of serving others, we become fully human. That is why, according to Frankl, ST is the ultimate end in life and the main purpose for human existence; therefore, it ought to be our end value if we want to fulfill our ultimate destiny or highest calling.

The reason why many people are not interested in ST is that they are preoccupied by lower desires for pleasure, power, and material gains. However, when these desires decline with advanced age, the motivation for ST will emerge.

The pursuit of ST will liberate us from self-absorption and the limits of the physical self. ST involves active engagement with what really matters in a purposeful way. At all three levels, successful pursuit ends in losing oneself in the experiencing of meaning. Frankl actually has a two-factor theory of ST as cognitive and motivational Wong, b. The cognitive factor refers to the global belief or worldview that life has inherent meaning and that there is potential meaning in every situation, no matter how absurd and undesirable. Such affirmation has the adaptive function as an anchor in stormy days.

Transcendence (religion) - Wikipedia

It also enables us to reframe our suffering in a meaningful context. A perspective change can make all the difference in how we perceive things Figure 4. Future research will reveal the power of global beliefs and perspective change in shaping our perceptions and behaviours. The above brief review provides empirical support for the adaptive advantages of ST and, at the same time, challenges the misconception of the self as an isolated entity closed in skin.

The Buddhist teaching has long questioned the illusion of the self as a substantial, permanent entity and advocated the state of nonself Shiah, The mental state of selflessness—as experienced in mindful meditation—is not only associated with well-being Siegel, , but may also reduce the perils of the self-centered pursuit of happiness and material success Whippman, ; Wong, The adaptive advantage of ST stems from the fact that it is rooted in the relational nature of being human. Metaphorically, we are but one drop of water in an ocean of relationships.

We will naturally pursue and practice ST when we realize that we are all related horizontally and vertically—i. In other words, we are hardwired to love God and love people; in serving God and others, we meet our spiritual needs for ST.

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Thus, love is at the heart of ST; the practice of ST is also consistent with the Christian teaching of loving God and loving your neighbour. When we step out of self-interest to serve something greater than ourselves, we are practicing ST. We become our best self only when we are become selfless or egoless and oriented to caring for others. Thus, regardless of our religious beliefs, or lack of them, ST represents a spiritual way of life, a way that will meet our deepest spiritual needs for connectiveness and transcendence.

Interestingly, some of the best examples of people who lived a life of selflessness for the common good were also known for their deep religiosity. I believe that the world will be a better place when more people practice ST rather than the egotistic pursuit of material success. Here is a general portrait of ST personified: In his daily interactions, he consistently places his concern for others above self-interest.

He is willing to forfeit his rights for the common good. He works tirelessly and cheerfully because he loves what he does and believes that his work is consistent with his end-value and life purpose. I admit that ST is a hard sell in an individualistic society. But the intensive competition to achieve the American Dream can take a toll for individuals and society Whippman, , and the alternative path of ST may result in better mental health for individuals and a more sustainable development for society.

I challenge researchers to systematically investigate the adaptive benefits of ST. Meanwhile, I want to leave these thoughts with you for your reflection:. A paradoxical way to become your best. International Journal of Existential Psychology and Psychotherapy, 6 1. Introduction I propose that the way to become your best self is, paradoxically, to become more selfless. May I suggest that you entertain the following ideas, which represent an alternative way for personal growth: You need to lose yourself in order to find yourself. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

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Do not ask what you can get from life, but ask what you can give to You must be willing to deny yourself in order to serve something greater than yourself. Religion, like love and ethical action, offers a way to transcend the self He says whether you believe or not, religion accomplishes the miracle of group inspiration Haidt says religion's ability to move people makes it an evolutionary advantage for groups He says our minds evolved to be more religious in tandem with our cultures.

What's an atheist scientist like me doing writing good things about religion? I didn't start out this way. As a teenager, I had contempt for religion. I was raised Jewish, but when I read the Bible, I was shocked. It hardly seemed to me like a good guide for ethical behavior in modern times, what with all the smiting and stoning and genocide, some of it ordered by God.

In college, I read other holy books, and they didn't make me any more positive toward religion. In my 20s, I obtained a Ph. I ignored religion in my studies. We don't need religion to be ethical, I thought. And yet, in almost every human society, religion has been intimately tied to ethics. Was that just a coincidence? In my 30s, I began to study the emotion of "moral elevation. When you see someone do something kind, loyal, or heroic, you feel uplifted. You can feel yourself becoming a better person -- at least for a few minutes.

Everyone who has watched an episode of Oprah knows the feeling, but there was absolutely no scientific research on this emotion. Studying moral elevation led me to study feelings of awe more generally, and before I knew it, I was trying to understand a whole class of positive emotions in which people feel as though they have somehow escaped from or "transcended" their normal, everyday, often petty self.

Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives. I was beginning to see connections between experiences as varied as falling in love, watching a sunset from a hilltop, singing in a church choir, and reading about a virtuous person. In all cases there's a change to the self -- a kind of opening to our higher, nobler possibilities. As I tried to make sense of the psychology of these "self-transcendent emotions," I began to realize that religions are often quite skilled at producing such feelings. Some use meditation, some use repetitive bowing or circling, some have people sing uplifting songs in unison.

Some religions build awe-inspiring buildings; most tell morally elevating stories.

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Some traditional shamanic rites even use natural drugs. But every known religion has some sort of rite or procedure for taking people out of their ordinary lives and opening them up to something larger than themselves. It was almost as if there was an "off" switch for the self, buried deep in our minds, and the world's religions were a thousand different ways of pressing the switch. Robert Wright on optimism. In my TED talk, I wanted to illustrate some of these experiences visually. Many scientists who write disparagingly about religion focus on the conscious, explicit beliefs in God and the supernatural.