How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality

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Philosophy
**How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality**

While religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The big question is: Why? In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out how spirituality impacts our minds and bodies, as well as the world in which we live.

He speaks to leading scientists and philosophers, religious thinkers, and thought leaders to explore what we can learn from the world’s faith traditions to help us meet some of life’s biggest challenges. Along the way, he’ll look at how we can adapt and use spiritual practices in our own lives, whatever our beliefs, including none at all.

It’s by working across the boundaries that usually divide us – science versus religion, one faith versus another – that we’ll find new ways to make life better for everyone.

Latest Episodes:

How God Works Live Event! Oct 23, 2022

Show notes

Join us for the very first How God Works live event on Wednesday, December 7 at The Greene Space in New York.

For tickets and more information, click here.

If you can’t make it in person, not to worry: we’ll be livestreaming the event too.

Is Burning Man a Party or a Pilgrimage? Oct 16, 2022

Show notes

Every year, thousands of people head to Nevada's Black Rock Desert for a week at Burning Man. And while from the outside, it might seem like a place for partying, drugs, and debauchery, to many, it offers something deeper, even life changing.

We’ll ask neuroscientist Molly Crockett and Episcopal minister Alex Leach, both burners themselves: Is Burning Man a new type of spiritual gathering? How and why does it deeply move people? And should more traditional faiths aim to have a bit more Burning Man in them? After all, Jesus went to the desert to find himself. Maybe we should too.

For more on Molly’s research, visit her website or read her article in The Guardian. Alex Leach’s camp at Burning Man is Religious AF. Special thanks to Alex for recording interviews and ambient audio for this episode at this year’s Burning Man.

Season Three Trailer Oct 02, 2022

Show notes

How God Works will be back with Season 3 starting October 16th! This season we’ll continue to explore some of life’s deepest questions through science and spirituality. But we’ll also have another big question in mind - What comes next?

Death: Embracing the Last Transition May 22, 2022

Show notes

As a society that fears death, we tend to avoid the subject. But the key to having a positive end-of-life experience might come in doing just the opposite. On this episode, we’ll hear from philosopher Simon Critchley, Boston-area chaplains Ruth Delfiner, Sarah Byrne-Martelli, and Maude Quinn, and Threshold Choir singer Leigh Davis about what makes a good death, and the many rituals, spiritual or secular, that ease our transition out of this world.

Simon Critchley is the author of many books about death, including The Book of Dead Philosophers and How to Stop Living and Start Worrying. Find out more about his other work, including his most recent book, Bald, on his website.

In addition to her work as a chaplain, Sarah Byrne-Martelli is the author of Memory Eternal: Living with Grief as Orthodox Christians, due out this summer.

Find out about Leigh Davis’s art on her website, where you can also see some of her collaborations with the Threshold Choir. Find out more about the Threshold Choir here.

Threshold Choir Song Credits:

Beyond Weeping

Rest in each breath

Words and Music by Annie Garretson for Threshold Choir

Sung by Dorothy Calvani, Leigh Davis, Winnie Lee & Marcia Picciotto

Calming, Resting, Breathing

Words and Music by Patricia Hallam for Threshold Choir

Sung by Leigh Davis, Mckendree Key & Georgia Elrod

Ocean Breath

Rest Easy

Words and Music by Helen Greenspan for Threshold Choir

Sung by Pittsburgh Threshold Choir

Grief: Moving Through Loss May 08, 2022

Show notes

Sooner or later, most of us experience grief from losing someone we love. It’s always painful, and sometimes even debilitating. But there is plenty we can do to help ourselves and others be resilient. Join Dave as he talks with Columbia University psychologist George Bonanno and Rabbi Angela Buchdahl about ways to promote a healthy mourning process and find a path back to life.

George Bonnano’s book The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss, is available on his website. Find out more about Rabbi Angela Buchdahl here.

Midlife: Leaning Into the Change Apr 24, 2022

Show notes

Data shows that for many people, happiness takes a big dip around 50. But aging doesn’t have to be a crisis if we can figure out how to embrace who we’re becoming rather than hanging on to who we used to be. If done right, midlife can actually be a time of deepening joy and satisfaction. Join Dave as he talks to The Atlantic columnist Arthur C. Brooks and Swami Tyagananda, head of Boston’s Vedanta Society, about how to move into the second half of our life with grace.

To find out more about Swami Tyagananda, visit the Vedanta Society’s website. Click here to buy Arthur Brooks’s book From Strength to Strength and learn about his podcast and other writings.

Relationships and Marriage: Finding the Right Balance Mar 27, 2022

Show notes

The definition of a “good” marriage has changed drastically over time and today it seems our expectations for our partner are higher than ever. We want a best friend, intellectual equal, lover, and for many, a sensational co-parent who can also touch our soul. Which is a lot of pressure to put on one person! On this episode we'll talk to psychologist Eli Finkel, author of The All or Nothing Marriage, about the history, workings, and complications of wedded bliss. We’ll also hear about why the secret to a healthy marriage might not be what you think, and how intimacy might be an important way to meet even our spiritual needs.

For more on Eli Finkel’s book, The All or Nothing Marriage, visit his website.

Adolescence: How to Build an Adult Mar 13, 2022

Show notes

When you're a teenager, you're kind of between two worlds. You're leaving the comforts and carefree days of childhood behind and stepping into the challenges and responsibilities adulthood brings. But when exactly should you make that change? And, more importantly, how can rites-of-passage help? Join Dave as he talks with psychologist Leah Somerville and religion scholar Connor Wood to explore the adolescent mind and how rituals can help it learn to “adult.”

For more on Leah Somerville’s work, click here. To read some of Connor Wood’s writing, visit Science on Religion.

Childhood: Growing the Moral Muscle Feb 27, 2022

Show notes

Do children need religion to grow into ethical, caring adults? Sixty-five percent of Americans think so, but the relationship between religion and morality is a nuanced one. Join Dave as he talks with psychologist Larisa Heiphetz and Unitarian Universalist minister Leonisa Ardizzone to explore how kids’ beliefs about God and participation in rituals – spiritual and secular – can shape their growing sense of right and wrong.

For more on Larisa Heiphetz’s work, click here or check out the Columbia Social and Moral Cognition Lab. Find out more about Leonisa Ardizzone on her website, and the Fourth Universalist Society here.

Ara Norenzayan’s book, “Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict,” is available here.

Birth: Getting Off to Good Start Feb 13, 2022

Show notes

For all the joys a new child brings, it can also be a trying time filled with stresses, worries, and for some, depression. Long before new parents turned to books and blogs for advice, they turned to traditional practices and community for support. Join Dave as he speaks with neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett and psychologist Andi Clements to explore how religious practices big and small can help parents bond with their babies, reduce their stress, and even ward off postpartum depression, AND how anyone can use the wisdom of those practices in their own lives when children arrive.

For more on Andi Clements’s research, click here. Lisa Feldman Barrett’s books, articles and talks can be found on her website.

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