The Study of Human Spirituality

The Study of Human Spirituality Let's face it, these hidden laws [of mysticism] are hidden, but they are only hidden by [your] own ignorance. And the word mystical is just arrived at through people's ignorance. There's nothing mystical about it, only that you're ignorant of what that entails" ― George Harrison There was a time when I would have dismissed the study and practice of human spirituality as, at best, an exercise in wasteful futility and, at worse, an ideological practice aimed at manipulating the unwashed masses. But then, one day, I had a “spiritual” or “mystical” experience, an experience which, as scholars have noted, is the core feature of human spirituality (Dewey, 1934; James, 1982; A. H. Maslow, 1964). After overcoming my initial fear and confusion, I had another, and another, and another. The experiences were so powerful and profound that upon due consideration I could no longer, in good faith, ignore the empirical reality or significance of the various experiences. Thereupon I set out to explore and understand these experiences as best I could. As I set my foot upon this path, I discovered I was not the only person to have these experiences. In fact, most people have these experiences (Sosteric, 2018a). I also discovered I was not the only scholar to find this phenomenon interesting (A. H. Moncur Sime, 1916; Bien, 2004; Harvey, 1998; Hood, 1975; James, 1982; A. H. Maslow, 1964, 1969; Andew Newberg et al., 2001; Stace, 1960b; Wilber, 2001). A few had come before, struggling both to understand the nature and implications of these profound experiences, and to find a way to introduce the study of these important experiences into the wider scholarly collective that has been resistant to their consideration. Unfortunately, despite the demonstrable significance of a study of human spirituality, it has been mostly a washout. Scholars who show interest are either shuffled off to the margins, misrepresented, ignored, or put down, with the net result that despite glimmerings of interest here and there, there has been no success in putting the study of human spirituality on the scholarly agenda, limited progress made towards understanding its core aspect spiritual experience, and no appreciation of the implications of human spirituality or spiritual experience for human development, experience, health, well-being, and human evolution. The washout, which continues to consign the study of religious experience to relative obscurity, despite a booming interest in the psychology of religion (Kim & Ferrari, 2020), is unfortunate. Not only have these experiences been an actively sought out feature of human existence since the dawn of human consciousness (Eliade, 1989; James, 1982; Lawlor, 1991; Rogers, 1982), but there is no longer any empirical question that these are real experiences with powerful and profound outcomes (Bidney, 2004; Bien, 2004; Deloria, 2006; Harvey, 1998; James, 1982; Lanier et al., 1996; Miller, 2004; Andrew Newberg, 2006; Sosteric, 2018b; Stace, 1960a). Why then do most scholars still ignore these experiences and ignore or belittle those who show interest? There are several possibilities. Abraham Maslow, founding father of Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology, suggested the scholarly pathology of depressed, cynical, malicious, cruel, and vengeful members of the intellectual community who used their control of the “channels of communication to the educated public and to youth” (A. H. Maslow, 1970, p. x) to suppress discussion. Suppression may also have been part of a deliberate murder of the progressive potentials inherent in schools of thought, like Humanistic and Transpersonal psychologies, associated with the study of human spirituality (Elkins, 2009) and spiritual experience, schools which inevitably lead to criticisms of capitalist society and its human toxicity(Abraham H. Maslow, 1965). Epistemic bias (Habib, 1993) leading to a pathological desacrilization of science (Maslow, A. H., 1969) may also help explain why spiritual experience has yet to be included in the scholarly mainstream. There may also be a certain degree of scholarly PTSD arising from the ideological battle with Western Church patriarchs, as well as justifiable disgust (Dawkins, 2006b, 2006a) with the reactionary and superstitious fundamentalism of many religious institutions. From the past, we have learned, via the experience of people like Galileo, that religion is an authoritarian, elite, institution thoroughly and completely opposed to science and the truth it represents. In the present, we see that this reactionary, authoritarian elitism remains a salient feature of organized religion. Since the Church formally claims to represent an authentic and valid human spirituality, we assume from this association that all things represented by the Church, like human spirituality, must be ideologies (Weber, 1904), substances (Marx, 1970), or tools used by reactionary elites to suppress all that is truthful and good. These are not exactly unreasonable assumptions, given what we know about the Church and the people who run it, but they are erroneous ones. The Church, all churches, or at least, the higher-up establishment levels of these Churches, may claim to be faithful and exclusive representations of authentic human spirituality, but they are not. As Dewey pointed out, there is a difference between institutionalized religion and the experiences we count as religious (Dewey, 1934). As Maslow suggested, “Organized Religion, the churches, finally may become the major enemies of the religious experience and the religious experiencer” (A. H. Maslow, 1964). I would go farther and suggest that churches, particularly those that become established as large institutions, have been intentionally antagonistic to human spirituality from the very start. I believe Churches were created by elites not in order to propagate authentic spiritual wisdom, but in order to suppressive the progressive and healing functions of spiritual experience (Sosteric, 2018b) and protect elite financial and political interests against the potent, empowering, transformative, and threatening (at least, to the status quo) impact of authentic human spirituality and spiritual experience on human politics and motivation (Sosteric, 2021). As such, they misrepresent human spirituality and confuse spiritual knowledge, taking what is otherwise a ubiquitous, positive, transformative, and progressive aspect of human experience and suppressing and corrupting it under a veil of submission to patriarchal, elite authority. Mistakenly accepting the Church’s misrepresentation of human spirituality as a good representation of human spirituality, we consequently dismiss all consideration of it as silliness out of hand, thereby missing a critical opportunity to understand an important aspect of human existence. If these statements are true, if the Church misrepresents human spirituality and, because of epistemic bias, scholarly pathology, and justifiable recalcitrance leading to erroneous assumptions, science has consequently “missed the boat” on the study of this important aspect of human experience, how do we move forward? It is quite simple, really. Open your mind. Understand, churches misrepresent human spirituality in an effort to preserve elite interests. Understand, science has yet to adequately investigate this significant and fascinating area. Moving forward, stop dismissing investigation of human spirituality and spiritual experience out of hand. Either support the movement of its investigation from the periphery to the center of scholarly inquiry, or politely step aside and allow those who are interested space on the scholarly agenda. Be aware, there are no philosophical, methodological, or empirical justifications for ongoing resistance or dismissal. Human spirituality is important and authentic spirituality, of the kind not associated with institutional co-optation and suppression of authentic spirituality, is a real thing requiring sustained investigation. Even a cursory glance at the research reveals compelling reasons to open immediate and widespread historical, psychological, sociological, neurological, and medical investigations into human spirituality and human spiritual experience. The only thing that prevents us from moving forward here is materialist and atheist prejudices, ideology, and our own ignorance about the nature and significance of human spirituality and human spiritual experience.  References A. H. Moncur Sime. (1916). Edward Carpenter: His Ideas and Ideals. E.P Dutton & Co. Bidney, M. (2004). Epiphany in autobiography: The quantum changes of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60(5), 471–480. ehh. Bien, T. H. (2004). Quantum change and psychotherapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 5, 493. Dawkins, R. (2006a). Religion’s Real Child Abuse. Dawkins, R. (2006b). The God Delusion. Mariner Books. Deloria, V. Jr. (2006). The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men. 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