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.
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.
We spend a lot of time on How God Works talking about how spirituality can offer tools to become better versions of ourselves. And while learning to be happier, healthier and more resilient are all positive things to strive for, they can also lead us down a different path - an obsession with productivity and self-optimization… which can lead to a culture of trying to grind or life-hack our way through everything.
But what if the secret to success lies in doing less, not more? On this episode, we’ll explore the Chinese concept of wu wei, effortless action. We'll talk to Edward Slingerland about how modern cognitive science has proven many early Chinese thinkers right, why wu wei is still relevant today, and how learning how not to try can help us forge a different path toward the good life.
Edward Slingerland is a professor of religion at the University of British Columbia and the author of Trying Not To Try: Ancient China, Modern Science and the Power of Spontaneity. Find out more about his work, and his other books, on his website.
Other texts we’ve discussed during this episode include:
-Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
-Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, by Immanuel Kant
-The Analects or Sayings of Confucius, attributed to Confucius
-The Tao Te Ching or Laozi, attributed to Laozi
-The Mencius, attributed to Mencius