We can't think our way to Safety and Belonging

​I lead a breakout session at a conference yesterday; God on the Brain: The Nexus of Religious Faith & Mental Well-Being. The keynote speaker was Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist and one of the original founders of neurotheology, the study of the intersection of the brain and spirituality.

In his talk, Dr. Newberg revealed something fascinating to me. When we simply talk to God, or study our bibles, or recite prayers, brain scans show that the higher level thinking parts of our brains light up with activity.

Yet, when we enter the flow of life with God, when we sit in silence and welcome the presence of God, when we walk in nature to experience God, when we simply surrender ourselves to God's nearness with anticipation and welcoming, it's the lower parts of our brain that light up.

That's critical. Because it's the lower parts of our brain that reflect felt safety and security and belonging. And I think that's what most of us long for in our spiritual journeys.

Felt safety. Security. Belonging.

I think that's what we're all looking for in our relationships with one another, too. And maybe, just like with our relationship with God, we too often lean on memorizing what the relationship should be instead of surrendering to what the relationship offers.

Maybe we lean on defining what the relationship should be instead of sitting next to one another discovering the beauty that can be found in our time together.

Our God has the power to make us all-knowing. But from the beginning, God made it clear all-knowing would never be one of our superpowers. All knowing has been forbidden from day one.

I wonder if that's because God, especially when it comes to relationships, wants us to sit in shared curiosity. I wonder if God wants us to treasure discovering what we can become together more than the need to know what we already are.

I wonder if God wants us to know that we can't think or know our way to belonging, but we can sit next to him and discover it. Maybe as a way of helping us know that's where we'll find it in one another.

Sitting next to each other.

Discovering.