What is Spirituality? Hope for the Hopeless

The series explores the book SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION by Dr. George E. Vaillant. The author was a psychiatrist at Harvard and served as a non-alcoholic Trustee for Alcoholics Anonymous. Spirituality can be a hard concept to grasp, and his book helps make it understandable. He defines spirituality as the realization of positive emotions such as love, hope, faith, joy, forgiveness, and compassion – along with awe and mystical illumination.

The author argues our brains are hard wired for these and through the 12 Step journey, we’re evolving – “sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly” towards realizing them in our lives This episode focuses on the importance of HOPE in the spiritual life of a recovering addict.

Show Notes:

SpiritualEvolution: A Scientific Defense of Faith by George Vaillant

Harvard Study Hightlights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Study

Anthem by Leonard Cohen: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=anthem+leonard+cohen