Theravive Home

A series of new studies, published in Sage Journal looked at the spirituality of science and the implications for meaning, well-being, and learning.

“These studies are investigating how science can serve as a source of spirituality for some people,” study author Jesse L. Preston told us. “Spirituality is most commonly associated with religion, however it is not the same thing as religious belief. Spirituality is characterized through a sense of connection to things greater than oneself, a sense of wonder, and a sense of understanding or meaning in life, and we suggest that these same aspects can also be found through experiences with science and scientific theories.” 

Many famous scientists have referred to the spiritual aspect of science, like Carl Sagan for example, however, this is not something that has itself been studied empirically. So the researchers were hoping to find out whether science could indeed serve as a source of spirituality, even for non-scientists, and what positive outcomes might be associated with that. 

“We wanted to measure the individual differences in spirituality of science, that is differences between  people in feelings of spirituality related to science (meaning that they felt awe, a sense of connection, and coherence in science), that this would be associated with greater engagement with scientific information which would lead to better learning of science,” Preston told us. “We expected that people higher in spirituality of science would fare better on indicators of emotional well-being, such as happiness, meaning in life, and satisfaction with life.” 

Preston and the team chose this study topic because this is an aspect of scientific attitudes that has been largely ignored in psychology. Most psychological studies which examine attitudes towards science focus on topics like acceptance of science as a way of knowing, trust in science, or understanding science. The idea that there may be spiritual components of science has not been studied. Spirituality is so often conflated with ideas of religious belief that the two are often taken to be synonymous. But people can derive spirituality from other sources including science. 

“Religious belief is often associated with lots of positive outcomes to do with emotional well-being but this is usually explained through connections with underlying spirituality,” Preston told us. “And so we were curious to look at how an alternate source of spirituality such as spirituality through science could lead to these positive well-being outcomes as well.” 

Ideas about spirituality of science were tested in three studies. In the first study, researchers wanted to develop a measure to assess individual differences in spirituality of science, and created a simple scale to ask people questions such as whether they find beauty in science, if science reveals a deeper interconnectedness between things, etc. This scale was validated and found to correlate with measures of belief in science as a way of knowing. But it also was different from just belief in science as it also related to feelings of awe and general spirituality.  

Next the team looked at whether spirituality of science could predict better learning of science information. Participants were given information about black holes, or information about how to go about obtaining a mortgage. Spirituality of science predicted stronger positive emotional engagement with the science information, and recall of science information. But spirituality of science did not predict engagement or learning of non-science information about mortgages.  

And then in another study, researchers also looked at the question of whether spirituality of science could be associated with positive well-being outcomes. Using a large sample of non-religious people, spirituality of science predicted overall happiness, satisfaction with life, and measures of both pursuit of meaning and presence of meaning in life. 

“We were not surprised by the results but we expect that others may be,” Preston told us. “Psychology research has long found a strong  relationship between religiosity measures and well-being, and the implicit underlying implication has been that non-religious people are at some disadvantage in regards to emotional well-being, that they experience less meaning in life or are less happy. We did not think this was true for all non-religious people.” 

An important implication of the research, Preston explained, is that non-religious people can also find meaning in life and satisfaction and happiness, although through different means. Science provides a profound sense of connection to the universe, to nature, and to the world around us. Science can be a source of joy and awe and beauty. It organizes our understanding and our comprehension of the world that we live in in a way that provides real meaning. Not everybody is going to have those same experiences with science, but for those who do this can provide a real source of spirituality that can extend into genuine sense of well-being, meaning, purpose. 

“Psychologists and religious scholars have often tried to differentiate between religious belief and spirituality, but in reality very few attempts have been made to find or to talk about sources of spirituality outside of religious belief,” Preston told us. “Going forward, I believe these results open the door for exploring science as a means of spirituality and all the implications that this holds. For scientists, this concept provides a way of understanding one's own relationship to science on a ‘warmer’ emotional level rather than just the ‘cold’ cognitive component. And the same is true for non-scientists. I hope the idea of a spirituality of science might give a better appreciation of science, to make it more engaging and personal, rather than see it just as a collection of impersonal theories and calculations.  And for people who are religious, they might also find spirituality in science as a way of complementing their religious spirituality.  Overall I hope that one of the long lasting impacts of this research is to give a new perspective on science as beyond just data and technology, but something deeper that has a profound meaning an impact for people.”