What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then? Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I’ve always been a fan of Candid Camera. My stomach was sore for days from laughing so hard at the episode where the construction site porta-potty was secretly mounted to a fork-lift. Viewers watch worker after worker suffer varying degrees of puzzlement and consternation upon opening the door to a world now 12 feet below them. Of course, the subjects eventually spot the camera and small crowd splitting their guts over their plight and it’s smiles all around.

Humor is healing. We’ve known this intuitively for some time, but it wasn’t `til the 1970′s that scientists began to acknowledge a connection between our frame of mind and our bodies ability to heal. Norman Cousins may have triggered the revolution. After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, he checked himself into a hotel and had films of Candid Camera and the Marx Brothers brought in. He literally belly laughed himself back to health. Intrigued by his widely shared story, scientists began studies which later confirmed his conclusion. The new science of psychoneuroimmunology was born!This much we have known. People of faith took heart. Studies began to demonstrate the power of prayer. What better way to prevent the abandonment of religion by the more modern-minded?  But then the science backfired on the faithful. Studies could show a benefit to those who prayed for their own healing, and even those who believed in the power of prayer and knew they were being prayed for. But there was no evidence of people benefiting from prayer if they didn’t know they were being prayed for. Was God incapable of healing those who didn’t know they were prayed for? What were modern minds to conclude? Many religious people decided that science was an enemy of their faith. And often, their message to those who trust science has been that faith sometimes requires us to suspend our rationality and believe that God operates outside of and even against natural laws. It’s not surprising that many who trust in science came to believe that religion was basically about believing in things that didn’t make any sense to them. The popularized forms of Christianity that tell people what they want to hear and promise them salvation for $39.95 a month, and scoff at notions of environmental conservation or social justice for the disadvantaged haven’t done the rest of us any favors. But there’s a new twist in the plot. Science is once again curious about spirituality. The newest instruments by which we study the brain are challenging older understandings of the mind and the nature of consciousness. New studies, with improved methodology are showing that people’s bodies and brains can subconsciously register the prayers of people that they don’t know are praying for them.  Doctors have discovered patients who maintained conscious awareness while undergoing brain procedures in which instruments could detect no brain activity.  Other doctors have observed a specific location in the brain that registers strong activity among monitored patients who are describing their perception of a divine presence.  The brains of practitioners of deep meditation who report altered states of consciousness show signs that their meditation causes developmental changes in their brains.  Now scientists have unprecedented biological observations of forms of religious experience once thought to be delusional or contrived. The remarkable consistency of experiences across faith and cultural backgrounds suggest a reality that transcends doctrine. So what difference does all of this make for us? A lot. We know that many of those who resist having anything to do with organized religion describe themselves as spiritual. They believe there is more to life than meets the eye. Many of them are put off by religions which draw doctrinal lines in the sand as if to say that they alone understand the boundaries and nature of the divine. What’s more, those who have found the rigorous methodology and rationality of science to be more trustworthy than the teachings of TV preachers are coming face to face with evidence that whole realms of biological structure and activity, heretofore undetected, exist and await our scientific exploration.  The beautiful thing here is that people of faith have been exploring these realms for millenia. Sadly, the discoveries which the great mystics have made have been under constant assault from those use religion as a tool for justifying their privilege or blaming others for their own failings. Thus we stand in a very exciting place. A growing number of members of the scientific community are eager to study things which our world has taught belong to the world of faith. People of faith, especially those who’ve been at a loss for how to talk about their faith around those skeptical of faith’s claims are finding uncommonly solid ground upon which to achieve mutual understanding.  I believe that Love’s realm is being perceived in new ways, by people who are becoming new. I am confident that science is becoming a partner to faith in the adventure unfolding. And if we have the courage to join the journey I do not doubt that science, faith, and our society as a whole will be the better for it. If this conversation intrigues you, I hope you’d consider joining my Sunday School class this fall. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, the Religion Correspondent for National Public Radio has just published ‘Fingerprints of God, The Search for the Science of Spirituality.’  She has made these questions her pursuit.  Our first class begins Sunday, September 13 at 9:30 am. If you’d like to order a book, or borrow the book on audio CD, just contact the office.