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reproduce... one consequence is sterilization of mentally 'unfit' women
that selfish genes evolved in the case of Buck v. Bell by writing,
through individual-level selection "Three generations of imbeciles are
processes to promote social enough." Sterilization rates under
preferences and group processes, eugenic laws in the United States
including reciprocal social increased following this ruling until the
behaviors, that can extend Skinner v. Oklahoma case in 1942, after
beyond kin relationships which point they declined.
The concept of inclusive fitness helps to The practice of medicine
explain why humans care for the young expresses more than a straightforward
when they are sick, and even why they social instinct for protecting the young.
care for those who when healthy are able To borrow from Browning, it may be
to contribute to caring for the young. In that medicine builds on and extends the
addition, it may be that hunter-gatherers dynamic of inclusive fitness much like in
were more likely to survive and Catholic moral theology caritas (love)
reproduce when they cared for a builds on and extends eros (desire).
wounded or sickened member of the Browning writes, "[Aquinas] held — and
clan—thereby establishing an Christianity has always taught — that
expectation of reciprocity that would Christian love includes more than kin
contribute to social cohesion, collective altruism and the care of our familial
effort, and defense of other group offspring; it must include the love of
members. These provide at least the neighbor, stranger, and enemy, even to
rudiments of an evolutionary rationale the point of self-sacrifice." The
for the practice of medicine. theological concept of God as creator
and Father of all "made it possible for
Yet, medicine does not involve
Christians to build on yet analogically
caring merely (or even primarily) for the
generalize their kin altruism to all
young, much less for those who are most
children of God, even those beyond the
genetically fit. Rather, medicine in large
immediate family, their own children
measure involves caring for those who
and their own kin." Even those beyond
either have no capacity to contribute to
the reasonable hope of reproducing or
the gene pool because they are aged and
helping others to reproduce.
otherwise infertile, or whose
contributions to that pool will reduce Notably, the self-conscious
population fitness because they are commitments that animate medicine do
genetically predisposed to sickness and not include promoting population fitness
disability. Concern about the latter led or ensuring survival of offspring to the
Francis Galton and many of his point of reproduction. Rather, physicians
American and European contemporaries discipline themselves to practices that
to embrace social Darwinism and to make possible the commitment of
champion efforts to keep the diminished medicine: to preserve and restore the
and infirm from reproducing. In the health of patients, notwithstanding
United States, the eugenics movement patients' other characteristics. Religions
was memorialized in the infamous words ground this care for the sick in sacred
of Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell and transcendent obligations to God and
Holmes, who justified the neighbor, and it is not incidental that the
constitutionality of the forced hospital began when Christian monastic
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communities enfolded the care of the taken for granted precisely because of its
sick into a communal life of liturgy and dominance, so the influence of religious
prayer. This is not to say that the ideas on medical practice is often
substantively irreligious lack proper invisible in those areas where
motivation to practice medicine. It is to commitments are shared in common
say that an animating vision for among different religions and other
medicine as a good and worthy activity moral traditions. For example, we
seems to require moral concepts that generally take it for granted that
science alone does not provide. mending injuries, treating infections, and
removing diseased organs are good
How should medical science be
things to do. That is because the moral
deployed?
commitments that undergird these
Medicine is not only animated by practices are shared by virtually all
something like a religious vision; it also moral communities, religious or
requires a thick moral framework for its otherwise. Moral commitments that arc
ongoing direction. To know how best to shared by all may not seem `moral' at
care for patients, we need to know all. Yet even the idea of sickness implies
something about what human flourishing a norm of and concern for health that are
entails and how medicine can contribute not fully derivable from empirical
to it. Medical science is less helpful here science.
than one might hope.
The influence of religion on
Science facilitates the sort of medical practice becomes more visible
religious humanism that Browning where the commitments of particular
encourages, because it helps us better traditions diverge from one another or
understand the empirical world and where they diverge from the values of
therefore helps all moral communities the dominant culture. For example,
refine their efforts to bring about human religious measures have been found
flourishing. Science elucidates a range of consistently to strongly predict
technical possibilities and provides physicians' attitudes regarding ethically
information about what we can controversial practices such as abortion,
reasonably expect as the consequence of physician-assisted suicide, withdrawal of
choosing one course over another. Yet, life-sustaining therapies, contraception,
even the successes of medical science physician interaction with patients about
highlight its limits. As medical science spiritual concerns and, as we have found,
generates technologies that can be put to physicians' ideas about the relationship
ever-wider uses, it exposes between religion and health.2
disagreements about which of those uses
Yet overtly controversial issues
arc worthwhile. Although medicine
merely highlight the tips of proverbial
proceeds in scientific ways in the care of
icebergs. Disputes about practices such
patients, it does so in pursuit of goals
as abortion or physician-assisted suicide
that science cannot set. These goals
concern whether the practices are
come from moral traditions and cultures,
intrinsically unethical. Much more
religious or otherwise.
commonly physicians agree about the
In the same way that the range of legitimate clinical strategies,
influence of a dominant culture on but they disagree about which is to be
medical practice is often invisible or recommended in a given moment. For
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example, physicians may agree that the traditions have much to say, but about
experience of depression can be treated which medical science remains silent.
legitimately by antidepressant
Caring for the patient as person
medications, referral to a psychiatrist, or
referral to a counselor whose practice is So far I have suggested that
rooted in a specific religious tradition. religions provide a vision that animates
Yet our research suggests that the care of the sick and a moral framework
religious characteristics of physicians that guides the application of medical
strongly influence which of these technology. Religions make another
options they would recommend in a contribution by fostering practices that
given cases. nurture the human capacity to care for
patients as persons rather than as mere
Controversies over a particular
objects.
medical intervention often represent
deeper unspoken disagreements that, Patients commonly complain that
unfortunately, science cannot settle. For their physicians treat them as mere
example, controversies over the use of objects or specimens rather than
stimulants to manage childhood behavior appreciating and attending to them as
disorders, or the medicalization of social unique persons. This problem has always
anxiety, seem to reflect disagreements plagued the profession. To learn how to
about more basic questions: What brings heal, the novice physician must learn of
human happiness? Which moods and patients as representing abstract general
behaviors should be considered normal types and classes. She must learn about
parts of human experience and which coronary artery disease and hematuria
should be considered abnormal? What before she can begin to interpret Mrs.
sorts of suffering should we try to Smith's chest discomfort and Mr.
alleviate? What leads to disordered Jones's red urine. These abstractions
behaviors? What resources (social, allow knowledge of when and how
psychological, spiritual or otherwise) are things happen, and that knowledge
best suited to addressing disruptions in guides technological interventions that
individuals' mental and emotional may bring healing to the body. These
states? How does modem medicine fit abstractions also help doctors objectify
into our response to these experiences? their patients' humanity enough to
Although physicians may not ask or violate social norms that operate in every
answer these questions explicitly, they other social situation, such as asking
implicitly answer them in their responses patients to expose their nakedness in
and recommendations to patients. vulnerable positions, or cutting patients
apart in hopes of making them whole.
So, for all that is hoped for in
'scientific' and 'evidence-based' As long as the process does not
practice, clinicians must in the end act as go too far, scientific detachment serves
practical moral philosophers, making to make our concern effective. Yet the
judgments about how best to pursue the collective experience of both patients
goals of medicine for a particular patient and physicians suggests that such
in a particular context, all things detachment usually does go too far and
considered. Among those things to be occurs too easily. As a result physicians
considered are moral valuations about treat patients as mere objects and
which religions and other moral
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instances of disease; they treat patients regardless of one's social status, one's
as less than the human persons they are. biological fitness or one's reproductive
capacity. Epley notes that we are better
Physicians, it would seem, are
able to pay attention to what another is
subject to a particular form of the more
thinking or feeling when we are
general psychological challenge of
motivated to do so. Christianity seeks to
paying attention to other minds. Like all
stimulate such motivation by
humans, physicians easily ignore the
encouraging Christians to meditate on
mindfulness of others. This matters,
the fact that Jesus comes to us in those
Epley reminds us, "because mindful
who are sick and otherwise suffer°.
agents become moral agents worthy of
Moreover, it reminds us that we are
care and compassion." As such, patients
never alone. As Katherine Tanner
who are seen as mindful "evoke empathy
details in her chapter, God is always
and concern for well-being, whereas
with us. This central theological claim,
agents without mindful experience can
when remembered in song, prayer,
be treated simply as mindless objects."
liturgy, reading of Scriptures and other
There are obstacles to recognizing the
rituals, provides a particular form of
mindfulness of patients. Illness makes a
what psychologists call "mindful
patient different, or deviant, from human
surveillance"—our actions become more
norms, and we tend to pay less attention
"prosocial" (even altruistic) when we are
to the minds of those who are different
aware of being observed by others. All
from ourselves. In addition,
of these practices depend on and extend
"Considering other minds requires some
the capacities of the social brain. They
attentional effort. It does not come
are also, from the vantage of
automatically." Physicians learn to go
Christianity, ways in which one may
through the technical motions of caring
come to receive grace, the unmerited
for the sick until those motions become
help of God.
'automatic'—that is the mark of a skilled
and effective clinician. But paying Religious practices have
attention to the mindfulness of patients therefore at least the potential to
requires a sustained investment of time encourage and strengthen the human
and energy that physicians are often capacity for attending to the
unwilling to make. mindfulness, and therefore the
personhood, of those who are sick and
How could religious practices
diminished. As Epley suggests, "Making
help? As Luhrmann notes, most people
minds visible, and hence more like one's
find it very difficult to pay attention to
own, enables people to more readily
God. To help in this difficult and
follow the most famous of all ethical
lifelong task, many religions have
dictates—to treat others as you would
developed disciplines of prayer and
have others treat you."
other practices that call to mind what we
tend to forget—including the ideas that Conclusion
motivate genuine human concern for
Science and religion are invisibly
those who suffer. Christians, for
and inextricably intertwined in the
example, practice remembering that all
practice of medicine. Science has
people are ultimately united as children
provided modern medicine with
of the one creator God, that "the ground
extraordinary diagnostic and therapeutic
is level at the foot of the cross"
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capacities that can be employed to care 3 Curlin FA, Odell S, Lawrence RE,
for patients. Science gives knowledge of Chin MH, Lantos JD, Meador KG,
the remarkable neurological and Koenig HG. The relationship
psychological features of the social brain between psychiatry and religion
that make activities like caring for the among US physicians. Psychiatr
sick possible. But science can also Sery 2007;58(9):1193-1198.
depersonalize the patient viewed through
4 Holy Bible. Matthew 25:40.
the eyes of the physician scientist.
Religions (and other moral communities)
motivates an attention to the person who
is the patient, providing a fuller vision
for the worthiness of caring for the sick,
and drawing the physician and patient
closer together. Religion and moral
communities can also provide a
framework to guide the application of
medical science in that endeavor, and
practices that strengthen the human
capacity for treating patients as the
mindful persons they are. It is the
balance of the tensions produced by the
forces of science and religion that may
hold a key to better medical practice and
patient care.
References
1 Curlin FA, Lantos JD, Roach CJ,
Sellergren SA, Chin MH.
Religious characteristics of U.S
physicians: A national survey. J
Gen Intern Med. Jul
2005;20(7):629-634.
2 See Curlin FA, Chin MH, Sellergren
SA, Roach CJ, Lantos JD. The
association of physicians' religious
characteristics with their attitudes
and self-reported behaviors
regarding religion and spirituality
in the clinical encounter. Med
Care. 2006;44:446-53, and Curlin
FA, Sellergren SA, Lantos JD,
Chin MH. Physician? observations
and interpretations of the influence
of religion and spirituality on
health. Archives of Internal
Medicine. 2007;167(7):649-54.
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Invisible Forces
Farr Curlin meditates on the
puzzle of medicine—what is its
evolutionary and social function, what
draws individual practitioners to it, and
what grounds its fundamental values.
The values of scientific inquiry lead to
treating the objects of inquiries in just
that way: as objects. But objectifying
patients and their disease would seem to
work against the human values of
empathy and caring for the weak that
also seems to be part and parcel of what
medicine is as a practice. Curlin argues
that religious values inform and nurture
the human side by insisting that there
must be a connection between physician
and patient, acting as an often
unrecognized invisible force that
humanizes the practice of medicine.
Religion is neither necessary nor
sufficient for an individual to adhere to
such values. The question of what it is
that grounds the fundamental values that
govern our relationships, and how those
values are reflected in invisible social,
psychological, and biological forces, is
central to the work of our network. In a
concluding essay, Ronald Thisted
reflects on the many threads of
investigation and discussion that have
made up our conversation, and how they
are interwoven into a network of inquiry
that sheds light on invisible forces and
the social brain.
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on-going conversation that we have
come to recognize as being centered on
nezion 'ea tcon's1 -5 liatuals unseen forces that shape, and are shaped
ai-er=s5.tr7ad.vidvan_
otatrreTo_taheikrlit .
by, the social nature of human beings.
3---connectiorLatrrge t ittrat The essays that make up this volume
Kgival 112449r c es v)bszoritze:7,
.±..„9-Ei totivireut et give a hint as to what our conversation
...4.ffiphainan
r ji S. tith en has been like, but the linear structure that
a book imposes cannot fully evoke the
give and take of vigorous debate, the
Chapter 1616 excitement of viewing an old problem
from a new perspective, or the
Epilogue
satisfaction that comes from sharing the
Over the past six years, our search for knowledge — even when we
network of scholars has engaged in an did not agree on the interpretation of
what we discovered in our search.
16
The lead author is Ronald Misted, Ph.D., a We deliberately chose to describe
Professor in the Departments of Health Studies,
our membership as a network rather than
Statistics, and Anesthesia & Critical Care at the
a committee, or seminar, or task force, or
University of Chicago, where he currently chairs
the Department of Health Studies. Trained in club, or salon. A network is defined as
philosophy and mathematics at Pomona College much by the connections between people
and in statistics at Stanford University, his as it is by the individual people
interests include the nature of argument and
themselves. Networks can be described
evidence, particularly in the context of health,
pictorially as nodes (points that represent
disease, and medical treatment. He has
published articles on topics ranging from individuals), some of which are
treatment for back pain to computational connected by edges (lines that represent
mathematics, and from social determinants of links between two individuals). In our
health to the size of Shakespeare's vocabulary.
network, we have focused on the value
He is a Fellow of the American Statistical
of the edges, and have held the
Association, and a Fellow of the American
Academy for the Advancement of Science. conviction that much is to be gained by
The question of how we come to exploring previously untested
know—or to claim that we know—things, is left connections. We started with a set of
unexamined all too often. The similarities and
nodes having only a handful of edges,
differences in modes of argument across
and we ended with many more edges
disciplines, and the variations in what counts for
evidence supporting or refuting a position within than nodes.
and across disciplines can be illuminating.
As a result, our network — and
Statistics, and statistical argument, provide a rich
each individual in the network — has
framework for thinking about such issues as
measurement, learning, uncertainty, variation, been enriched as we have learned more
and experiment. Statistical principles provide a about, and more from, perspectives that
framework for disciplined investigation, for
initially were unfamiliar to each of us,
communication about the extent of and
the end result being that our whole is
limitations to the information at hand, and for
decidedly greater than the sum of our
combining information from different sources.
Although there is enormous variability between parts. This illustrates a recurrent theme
individuals, there are also commonalities to their in the book, that of emergent
experience that transcend their differences. As a
phenomena—characteristics that can be
species and as individuals, we rely on these
ascribed to entities at a higher level of
common threads, even when they are invisible to
organization that, without conscious
us.
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design or intent, seem to arise from shaped to release creative energy and
behaviors and interactions at a lower shared purpose.
level of organization. How this can
Bemtson notes that "beliefs and
come about is a puzzle, but it is a puzzle
emotions have consequences, both
that is amenable to thoughtful
behavioral and physiological." The
investigation, both scientific and
network starts from the premise that one
philosophical. What forces are at play,
can learn about such apparently invisible
we might ask, that makes such a
phenomena as beliefs by studying and
collection cohesive? Just what
reasoning about their consequences.
chemistry can transform a collection of
individuals into something both more In his essay, Browning advocates
than and different from what in starting with a critical hermeneutic
aggregate they bring to the table? We phenomenology, a "careful description"
seek to understand more fully the bonds of our instruments, our observations, and
of marriage, family, friendship, or the stories we use them to tell. Clearly
membership—invisible forces that bind articulating our assumptions and starting
and simultaneously transform the points has been of immense value. After
underlying nature of their constituents doing so for the benefit of colleagues
no less than chemical bonds transform outside our disciplines, those colleagues
atoms of hydrogen and oxygen into in turn have helped us become aware of
water. unarticulated assumptions implicit in our
approaches or in our experiments.
Our origin was rooted in distaste
These observations have led in turn to
for the unproductive and unenlightening
better science and more convincing
shouting matches between proponents of
evidence. Our colleagues in the network
views of science that denigrate religious
have helped each of us to see more
belief and views of religion that are anti-
facets of the same elephant that
scientific. We started from the
individually we are too blind to
assumption that scholars from the
appreciate fully.
sciences and from religion and
philosophy could have fruitful Revising our thinking and our
conversations about what is known, what research to take those observations into
counts for knowledge, what can be account has increased the rigor of our
observed, and what can be tested thought and broadened the scope of our
through experiment and observation. conclusions. The presence of a rich
And we all believe in the value of the variety of disciplinary perspectives has
scientific method as a means for helped us to weave the nets of Sir Arthur
expanding our knowledge. Internal Eddington's parable more tightly,
tension is needed for the structural enabling us to see for the first time some
integrity of buildings and bridges, and of the "smaller fish" that earlier would
that is no less true of social structures have escaped our notice.
such as our network. Through
Shedding light on invisible forces (a
appropriate construction, deep tensions
koan)
between theology and science (or even
Invisible forces of culture,
between scientific disciplines or
connection, and curiosity bind us
theological perspectives) that have the
together and define us as a species that is
potential to drive us apart can instead be
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at once both individual and social. we are not fooling ourselves into seeing
Because both individuality and sociality only what we hope to see.
are fundamental to the human species,
Humans have a deep need to
we are fundamentally interdependent,
create meaning in their interactions with
connected by invisible, yet powerful,
the world and with each other. We also
threads. In exploring these threads, we
have a deep need for making
have also been led to questions about
connections beyond ourselves. The
how social forces can have effects on
biological structure we call our brain has
individuals, how the meaning that
evolved to reward social connection, just
individuals (and groups) apply to
as it rewards the satisfaction of hunger
particular phenomena or relationships
or thirst. The human biology that directs
affect both behavior and biology, and
and reflects these human needs is what
how our biology makes social
we have termed the "social brain."
connection possible. We have used the
phrase "invisible forces" to describe the It is worthwhile to reflect on the
mechanisms that account for these range of invisible forces that we have
effects that we essentially take for considered here. These forces operate at
granted, and to suggest by analogy that several different levels, from the
they can be investigated rigorously just molecular, to individual bodily
as other phenomena, such as gravity or functions, to social groups, to societies,
autonomic regulation, that also are not to species. They include such disparate
immediately present to our visual or ideas as evolutionary selective pressure
other senses can be studied. favoring social connectedness,
anthropomorphism, loneliness, social
Human minds are unparalleled at
connection, emergent phenomena,
discerning patterns in what they see
connection to a higher being,
against a background of noise and
transcendence, empathy, language as
variation, and they are equally adept at
carrier for meaning, belief, collective
attributing meaning to them. As the
will, group synchrony, autonomic
essays in this volume demonstrate
regulation, and neural resonance. These
repeatedly, we readily ascribe patterns
forces interact with one another, too:
we encounter (or seek to encounter) to
loneliness, for instance, acting as an
invisible forces of nature, of God, of
internal signal of the inadequacy of
kinship, of genes, of culture, of love, of
one's bonds of social connection, with
social connection. A common premise
consequent effects on health, mediated
underlying the work of the network is
through autonomic regulation, or the role
that what we know (or what we think we
of belief in mediating scientific
know), and how we come to know it, arc
objectivity and empathy.
social endeavors embedded in a shared
view of both the world and how one It is tempting to view individuals,
talks meaningfully about the world. And both souls and bodies, as arising from
mindful of our human facility to see lower-level forces within, such as the
patterns (even where none exist!), we are operation of specialized neurons and
acutely aware that constant rigorous regulatory biological processes. And it
testing of assumptions, methods, and is tempting to view social structures and
arguments is necessary to make sure that the forces that tend to maintain them as
arising, perhaps emergently, from the
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individuals that make up societies. On paired systems of biological checks and
this view, the social level of organization balances; when one system is activated,
arises out of the interaction of lower- the other tends to restore equilibrium.
level entities. But invisible forces For instance, one set of muscles flexes
operate in both directions; one's degree the arm, and an opposing set extends it.
of social integration or isolation (at the We have seen that the sympathetic and
higher level) can have profound parasympathetic components of the
influence on one's mental and physical autonomic nervous system—the system
health (at the lower level). Just how that makes us breathe and that makes our
these forces operate—in both heart pump—operate in this way, and
directions—is one of the main themes of that chronic stimulation of some
this book. systems, like overstretched elastic bands,
lose their ability to spring back. The
A recurring theme is the human
notions of observing a behavior and
need for connection. As we have
performing that behavior not only arc
explored this fundamental need, it has
conceptually similar, they may be rooted
become clear that it can be satisfied in
in a common set of neurological
part by connections not necessarily to
structures which may, in turn, help us to
other human persons, but to other minds.
understand how we can perceive another
Since the minds of others are in part of
human being as being like us, but not us.
our own construction, connections to a
Anthropomorphism is the belief that
higher being, or to our pets, or even to a
other minds mirror our own; this colors
transcendent order underlying the world,
the way we perceive the world and the
can fulfill part of what we strive to
other actors in it, a mechanism that
attain. Indeed, such non-human
allows us to simulate getting under the
attachments can share the character of
skin of the other person.
human connection: we can feel valued
by our pet (just as we can feel validated Happiness and loneliness are
in a social relationship), we can have an perceptions about our place in the world
intimate dyadic relationship with God that profoundly affect our physical
(just as we can be intimate with a close bodies and our social relationships.
friend), and we can feel a sense of Religious beliefs, too, can have profound
belonging to the universe (just as we can effects on health and physical well-
feel that we belong to social group). being, working through the same
This explains how different, even biological mechanisms that in health
contradictory, notions of a relationship maintain equilibrium.
to God, for instance, can lead different
Unseen, yet powerful, forces
people each to find meaning in such a
regulate social behavior. Empathy, for
relationship: finding God on the
instance, contributes to the regulation of
downtown bus versus encountering God
social interactions. Synchronous
in the purposeful unfolding of the natural
behavior points to a phenomenon that
order.
makes the individual feel subsumed by
The ideas of symmetry, the group, feeling part of a larger,
complementarity, coordination, and co- organic whole. These behaviors can be
regulation also run through several of as disparate as "the wave" at a sports
our essays. Regulation of biological stadium or congregational prayer at a
systems is often maintained through church service. Shared feelings of
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transcendence and belonging can Our relationship to it comes into play in
simultaneously lead to greater fitness of conceptualizing loneliness,
the individual and increased cohesion anthropomorphism, spirituality, group
and sustainability of the social behavior, empathy, and inclusive fitness.
organization—another indication of When we speak of loneliness, this
positive selection associated with the boundary seems to be an impenetrable
social brain. barrier. When we speak of empathy or
anthropomorphism, however, the self-
The notion of resonance with
other boundary is defined by the
another appears repeatedly through the
similarity and congruence of individuals
book. Our connections to others derive
to one another, providing a transparent
in part from being able to see what they
window through which we perceive and
see, to hear what they hear, to know
interact with others (who must be like
what they know, to feel what they feel.
us). And when we speak of group
Or we have to be able to believe not only
synchrony, the boundary vanishes
that this is possible, but that it happens.
completely: self and other are one.
The social brain, in which the same
regions arc activated by our own Successful engagement with
experience of pain and by our perception others requires work. It is the work of
of others in pain, makes both aspects attending to something, and it is work
possible. There is a close connection that often is needed to resolve competing
between being able to "feel for" another forces. Thinking about other minds is a
(empathy) and to "see into" another demanding task and requires attentional
mind (anthropomorphism). effort. It is this effort that allows us to
manipulate the transparency of the self-
Language has the potential to
other boundary by what we put in
affect people and groups in part because
through learning, attending, seeking, and
it is tied to meaning. Language is the
projecting. In effect, we can tune the
medium through which we convey,
degree of resonance we have with
preserve, and transmit meaning from one
members of different groups. Similarly,
individual to another, and from one
consistent attentional effort is also
social generation to another. Language
required for the physician to attend to
is powerful because it can activate
the mindfulness of patients, for the
belief, which in turn can activate
Vineyard church member to experience
physical responses. Words can bind;
God as present in one's life, and for
words can terrify; and words can cause
another to find connection to an
physical pain and death. The power of
omnipresent yet invisible God who
words comes from the meanings they
works through the very workings of the
entail about our connections to one
world.
another.
What it means to feel a
Paradox
connection to a higher being is a theme
Our investigation of invisible that several essays explore. As is
forces involving the social brain has led evident in these essays, the Network has
us repeatedly to factors that considered very different, even
fundamentally conflict. An important divergent, pictures of what such
invisible force is the respect we pay to connection might entail. These apparent
the boundary between self and other. inconsistencies that can be found in
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these portrayals are rooted in the mind, purpose, or intention." Our
different aspects of human connections, network sidestepped this question from
and each is grounded in a social context. the beginning, focusing instead on
Social connection can be intimate, related matters such as the consequences
relational, or collective. For the member of believing in such a mind, and of
of the Vineyard Church, connection with seeing into that mind, for the one doing
God is an intimate two-way relationship, the divining.
while in Jonathan Edwards's sermon in
Those arc questions amenable to
the Great Awakening, the connection is
empirical investigation, and it is at that
relational and involves the coherence (or
juncture that we can see benefit from our
lack of it) of the individual with God's
discussions. As Berntson says, "beliefs
approval. And the Christian theological
color the way we perceive the world,
view of connection as a higher order can
they direct and shape our actions, and
be conceived in terms of one's belonging
define our personalities." Studying and
within a whole that God's constancy
debating about how they do so has been
makes larger than oneself.
gratifying and immensely enjoyable.
While religion certainly speaks to We have engaged in no theological
individual connection to others and to debate, but have focused on questions
the divine, religious practices can also about human beings, their beliefs, their
serve an evolutionary and social function behaviors, and how those things affect
by strengthening the human capacity for and are affected by multiple levels of
attending to the personhood of those human connection.
who are sick and diminished. The
How we conceptualize our
objectivity of medical science all too
relationships to persons and things
often leads to an objectification of the
outside our selves has implications for
patient or, more frequently, the patient's
our health and well-being. Specifically,
disease. The social brain's capacity to
we have seen that viewing our
see others as minds rather than objects
relationships in terms of meaningful
makes it possible to assign meaning to
connections with other minds can have
patients and the ways in which they lack
positive implications for individual — as
wholeness.
well as social — health and function. The
Crescat scientia; vita excolatur more that we can learn about those
implications, the more our increase in
The possibility that religion and
knowledge has the potential to enrich
science can enrich one other, even as one
human life.
sets aside truth claims about such
matters as the existence of a deity, is by
no means obvious. But we have come to
see that science can describe what
religion does in rigorous ways that
benefit religion, and religion can serve a
meaning-making function that science
itself disclaims. Gilpin notes that rifts
between science and religion "have
centered on whether one can make
scientific sense of the notion of divine
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