Scientific evidence validates how normal the paranormal really is
In a riveting Deadly Departed interview with host Jock Brocas, trailblazing psychologist Dr Lisa Miller brings spirituality to the forefront of scientific inquiry with powerful evidence that validates how normal the paranormal really is and why humans are innately spiritual.
Dr Lisa Miller, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Columbia University Teachers College and founder of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, the first Ivy League graduate program in spirituality and psychology.
Her groundbreaking book The Awakened Brain gifts us with a comprehensive unveiling of ‘spiritual neuroscience’, the mysteries of sacred consciousness and her powerful personal story of awakening. Aptly described as a bold new paradigm for health, healing and resilience, Dr Lisa Miller’s ‘hands-on’ book also shows us why the awakened decision is the better decision, the awakened brain is the healthier brain and the awakened life is the inspired life.
We are starting to understand consciousness as existing independent of matter, which means that the brain can be a reification of coming into form, an antenna of sacred consciousness. And what we have in our MRI machines is the capacity to show which part of the brains go hand in hand with receiving consciousness. Which parts of the brain are engaged during moments of deep spiritual awareness. And to a mental health field, that's very powerful evidence that we are built for spiritual awareness. And we take that and we say, listen, every human being on earth is built as an innately spiritual being. Dr Lisa Miller, Ph.D.
Spiritual Path Talking Points
- How science and spirituality merge in the Awakened Brain
- Intertwining grief, spirituality, and healing
- Sacred consciousness – love, guidance, intention coming from Source/God
- Synchronicities and moments of guidance from a higher power
- Neuroscience shows that consciousness exists independent of matter
- MRI machines reveal brain activity during spiritual awareness, indicating our innate spiritual nature
- Choice is a sacred gift, a dialogue with the sacred universe
- Why our thoughts and actions have power
- Connection between the paranormal and normal
- Divine appointments and life-altering choices
- Cultivating an awakened brain in your own life
Understanding Sacred Consciousness – Source – God
Dr Lisa Miller: My mission is to walk the spiritual path… to help through the lens of science, bear witness to this awesome truth that I know through my deep intuitive knowing, through my mystical perception, through what we now know is our birthright – spiritual awareness.
I set out to show that to the medical community, the mental health community because the language at the moment of the mental health community is one of clinical science and if we could show the centrality and transformative power of spiritual awareness, what I call awakened awareness… if we could reveal the awakened brain, then perhaps mental health could embrace this deep foundational truth of who we are as humans.
Jock Brocas: I love the aspect that you dive into the neuroscience as well. I'm forever arguing with scientists on the brain and the mind. So, what gave you this inkling that, wait a minute, there’s gotta be a concept in our biological makeup in the brain that is set for spiritual awakening and spiritual realization.
Dr Lisa Miller: … It's a very beautiful point, and it's a subtle point, Jock…I'm not saying the brain makes spirituality. But I am saying that the brain is perhaps a docking station or an antenna or an expression of spirituality.
Jock Brocas: That’s what I think. The brain is an expression of divine mind or mind; the mind being the psychological building blocks of a reality.
Dr Lisa Miller: Beautiful. And that is for neuroscience, hopefully, where we are in our growth. In the 20th century, the metaphor of the brain was like a factory making packages of something, that the brain packages up thoughts. But increasingly, in the 21st century, we're starting to understand consciousness. And here we're talking about sacred consciousness. Not just information, but love, guidance, intention. Sacred. Coming from Source, the same as what I call God.
So here, we are starting to understand consciousness as existing independent of matter, which means that the brain can be a reification of coming into form, an antenna of sacred consciousness. And what we have in our MRI machines is the capacity to show which part of the brains go hand in hand with receiving consciousness. Which parts of the brain are engaged during moments of deep spiritual awareness. And to a mental health field, that's very powerful evidence that we are built for spiritual awareness. And we take that and we say, listen, every human being on earth is built as an innately spiritual being. An innately spiritual being.
We Have the Power Within Us to Bring Imbalance Into Balance
Jock Brocas: I think it's amazing… because it also brings to the forefront of our minds, or the forefront of reality… that we have the power to be able to reverse what maybe has come in unbalanced. Maybe that's somewhere that we need to go even deeper, especially in mental health, because I see it as an imbalance of something that we need to bring into balance. We have that power within us. But most people don't realize that.
Dr Lisa Miller: Science has always had a perfectly good lens for looking at innate spirituality, but we didn't use it…And that was not a limitation of our lens. We can point our lens at a broad host of questions. Whether it's an MRI study or an epidemiological study or a telescope, we can point it anywhere. But the limitation in the 20th century was in us, the scientists, we, the scientists.
Now that we have started asking questions about spirituality in the human journey and the road of life, I take the findings to be a form of sacred witness. It is jaw dropping Jock. It's like when we split the atom and infinite energy came out. A sacred moment like that.
Strengthening Our Spiritual Birthright
Dr Lisa Miller: Our awakened brain is one third innate. It is a human, inborn capacity. But it is two thirds environmentally formed which means our opportunity to engage, to practice, to learn. I liken it in some respects to musical ability. We all can feel the deep rhythm. We all have an innate musical ability. We all are innately rhythmic, if you will.
And then there's natural human variability and honoring your audience here. There's probably a great number of people who are exquisitely attuned, who are the Maestro's and the composers and the professional musicians, if you will. And those folks are representative of human variability.
We have one spiritual brain all around the world, but there's natural variability, same as there is with music or math or anything else. And, of course, two thirds environmentally formed means that our use of this gift of our awakened brain to practice, whether it's through prayer and meditation, whether it's through service, in a way that's guided by spirit, the more we use our awakened brain, the stronger it becomes. And that includes sacred work.
So, I honor every human being as a spiritual being, and to the extent that we choose to engage the spiritual path, we strengthen evermore, this birthright.
Choice is a sacred gift, a dialogue with the sacred universe
Jock Brocas: You mentioned choice a number of times, which is probably one of the greatest divine gifts that we've ever been given.
Dr Lisa Miller: Beautiful. Oh, Jock, what a way to think of it. Yes. Absolutely.
Jock Brocas: The power of choice that we are given by the divine is up to us. I have this concept where I say we have restricted free will because we don't have total free will. Because if we had total free will, then destiny wouldn't play a part in it, and we wouldn't have spiritual growth. We wouldn't learn anything.
But I feel that the power of choice that we have… it's a dialogue, and it probably becomes stronger with struggle and trauma, which leads us to becoming more aware of the power of choice, that we have to take a spiritual path, where we may then fall away from a religious dogmatic belief system and then start to, you know, investigate. Wait a minute, we are greater than the sum total of anything that we are, and we are greater than the perceptions and the expectations of religion. Where is the seat of awareness in us that has taken us to a new level? Where we're maybe jumping between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom being the hidden bridge and knowledge being the intellect.
Dr Lisa Miller: I so agree with you that choice is a sacred gift. And I sometimes think of choice in these moments, where we know it is a profound moment of choice. I mean, sometimes it can be clear and outward, but sometimes it's something more nuanced that we know through our knowing heart, our intuition, our mystical awareness.
I think of those moments of choice as something of a wormhole between universes that everything unfolds differently from that point. That's not to say we can't be redeemed. We can always be redeemed and forgiven, have another wormhole perhaps, if it's given. But choice is a sacred moment, and I think of it indeed as a dialogue with the sacred universe. What are you showing me now? What are you asking me now?
Divine Appointment
Dr Lisa Miller: Interestingly, Jock, the Pentagon and I have worked together for…close to four years. And the Chief of Chaplains in the Pentagon, 2 star general, Chaplain Tom Solhjem, speaks of divine appointment. He talks about moments where there's 2 helicopters taking off, and there's just been combat, and where does he go? And he feels in his spiritual heart, go left. Even though the plan was to go right.
The plan until that moment had been to board the helicopter on the right. The heart says go left. So he goes left. And he gets in the helicopter and it takes off, and there's three wounded soldiers. Chaplain Soldier tells the story of being able to pray and being in deep spiritual community with these three soldiers, a deep spiritual bond. And Jock ,all three of them survived.
Jock: Wow. That's powerful intuition right there.
Dr Lisa Miller: And I love his term divine appointment. The way you listen to the pull of god, of spirit. Saying, go left this time. That's a divine appointment.
The Awakened Brain – Lisa Miller Ph.D.
The Awakened Brain combines cutting-edge science with on-the-ground application for people of all ages and from all walks of life, illuminating the surprising science of spirituality and how to engage it in our lives. A groundbreaking exploration of the neuroscience of spirituality and a bold new paradigm for health, healing, and resilience—from a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning researcher.
Click his link to order your copy from Dr Lisa Miller’s website
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