Human health and happiness are greatly enhanced by a spiritual life beyond the physical and emotional realms we experience. Regardless of theism, some sense of greater order in the universe divines us with an appreciation and gratitude for our existence and our place in the world. This sense endows us with a more vivid, more robust, more insightful recognition of the world and conditions around us. We can identify connections and results which would otherwise seem random and go overlooked. True health and wellness are maximized by an openness and daily interaction with the powerful forces of nature and universal order.
Certainly awareness of and fear of mortality has played a role in human spiritual and organized religious activities. The promise of a realm beyond our current conditions where our consciousness continues to exist, at least in some form, is a feature of all spiritual traditions. This belief provides comfort and relief of fear at the finality of death. The fact that our minds can conceive of a spiritual realm or of a divine order does not itself prove its existence. The spiritual mysteries throughout the ages remain mysterious and ultimately require an intuitive or emotionally derived sense of belief in their existence. Yet, at the boundaries of our understanding of the physical universe, it is evident that we have virtually no understanding of the vast majority of its contents, the proportion referred to as dark matter and dark energy. At the boundaries of quantum, sub-atomic physics it is clear that the behavior of some of these energy forms is not understood, that they can suddenly change configuration to a completely different particle instantly. In medicine, the influence of belief or simply meditative contemplation on expression of genes is evidence at least of the power of the mind, if not something greater. Again, simply because our scientific understanding has limits does not prove the existence of higher power. Yet, this belief does something for humans that is very positive in terms of health and well being in the here and now.
Spiritual life not only confers appreciation for our good fortune, it provides tremendous comfort in times of loss, sorrow and grief. The healing and resilience building power of spirituality is unmatched among human endeavors. Spirituality is the most potent recovery tool from abuse, addiction, and bereavement. The sense of connection with higher order and with other humans conferred by a spiritual life gives us the strength to carry on in times of the most profound sorrow and despair. Spiritual practice can also benefit us by providing a community that share in their belief, but more importantly foster human connection that we all need for wellness. There are proven health benefits to ritual connection with other people, acting in synchrony through prayer, meditation, singing or chanting. Collective action of these communities can provide service and relief of suffering to society.
Development of your spiritual connection naturally leads to a sense of morality, if not more moral and ethical behavior in practice. Certainly any study of human and religious history will show all of the profound immoral and abusive behavior conducted in the name of organized religion or spiritual belief. Because these are human endeavors, they are tainted by human motivations and human choices that are often driven by seeking power, control and higher social status. This does not negate the fact that at its core, spiritual belief is about connection with and concern for not only a higher power, but other people and forms of life. When distilled and practiced with diligence and striving, the tendency of spiritual practice should be toward a more moral and ethically driven life. In aggregate, more moral and ethical behavior on the part of individuals leads to a more ethical, just and safe world. To hear the news of the day this is a difficult concept to believe. It does require study of the historical evolution of human culture and society to put in perspective. Over millions of years, human society has evolved into a more civilized, cooperative and less violent culture, while the stakes and scope of violence grow ever higher. We are clearly far from evolving away from violence and will never do so entirely in our lifetimes. There are also ebbs and flows of progress, often regression toward more self and tribal interest than collective advancement. Nonetheless, the arc of progress toward more cooperation and less violence is real.
It does not require a spiritual belief or practice to conduct yourself in a moral or ethical way. Organized society certainly dictates and legislates some baseline of acceptable conduct, although this is too often violated. Some argue that organized religion hinders this type of progress. No one appreciates being judged by others, particularly in a moral sense. Despite teachings, religious or spiritual people often do succumb to the human tendency to pass moral judgment on others. True freedom dictates that we should be the judge of our own moral character. This judgment and resulting behavior can be enhanced and strengthened by a higher consciousness. The fact is, belief in connection with higher consciousness causes us to at least consider treating others ethically and causes us to recognize when we fail to do so. What we do with this recognition is up to us. The freedom to exert the power of our choices makes us human. Spiritual life helps inform and direct these choices, at least sometimes, toward the greater, collective good. The study of happiness has shown that it is this type of compassion for others, rather than pursuit of pure self interest and pleasure, that confers true and lasting contentment and life satisfaction. Transcendence of self is the pinnacle of human need fulfillment and quality of life lived.