True Spirituality
Sir Kenneth Clark was the art historian who presented the 13 part television series called ‘Civilisation’. In his 1977 autobiography, ‘The Other Half’, he described an overwhelming, mystical experience in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy. He recounted that for a few minutes, his whole being was ‘irradiated by a kind of heavenly joy, far more intense than anything I had known before.’ He wrote that he was absolutely sure he had felt ‘the finger of God.’ Despite this profound moment, Clark did not become a Christian, later admitting he didn't act on this ‘flood of grace’, as he felt unworthy, feared being thought mad, and was too deeply attached to the world. This experience should have led him to investigate whether the Christian story is really true.
There are many who would say they are spiritual people. What is usually meant is that they have had some form of experience that was meaningful to them. These experiences can come in many forms. It may be a feeling of transcendence when listening to a brilliant performance of Handel’s Messiah, a sense of calmness when meditating or the feeling of wonder when sitting in a magnificent cathedral listening to brilliant organ playing. It may also be that quiet voice inside our mind that tells us that life does have a purpose, that values such as love and kindness are real. People throughout the world believe in an after-life, which is a spiritual faith. These all point to the fact that we have a transcendent dimension built into us. No-one should dismiss such experiences as they indicate that we are all spiritual beings. We all have a spiritual dimension in our lives that we cannot explain in atheistic terms. People long to find a meaning in life and would love to connect with something greater than ourselves. People do like to join organisations that aim to do good to to society or to someone.
Essentially being ‘spiritual’ is reaching out to something greater than ourselves.
The question is not whether spiritual experiences feel real, of course they can be. The real question is do all experiences reflect what is true?
There are various conditions and situations where experiences are false experiences, they are abnormal enhanced sensations that can be called hallucinations. Physical illness, mental derangement and drugs are well known to cause these all too real experiences. They can be terrifying and dangerous.
Schizophrenia, drugs and spiritual experiences
Clinical psychiatry classifies schizophrenia as a brain disorder, but many cultures, individuals, and spiritual communities view these experiences through a spiritual or mystical lens. The overlap between psychosis and spiritual awakenings is widely debated, with the distinction often coming down to how the experience affects daily function and well-being. Some would try to argue that all abnormal experiences are the effect of abnormalities in the metabolism of brain chemicals yet some experiences are life changing for the better. Could it not be that the God who created this extraordinary world can give people experiences to help them sort their lives out?
Hallucinations and delusions, such as hearing authoritative voices, seeing visions, or feeling a sense of oneness with the universe, are classical symptoms of schizophrenia. However, these exact phenomena are also frequently described in spiritual texts as manifestations of divine contact, prophecy, or heightened intuition. For many patients, spirituality acts as a vital coping mechanism. A study published in Schizophrenia Bulletin in 2022 notes that framing their symptoms as a spiritual journey can help schizophrenic patients find meaning, purpose, and support in their recovery.
Mental health professionals rely on objective guidelines to determine if an experience crosses the line into a medical condition. If the voices, visions, or beliefs cause intense fear, distress, or lead to dangerous bizarre behaviour that threatens the individual or others, it typically indicates a medical need for treatment. A key indicator of schizophrenia is the inability to maintain daily life. If symptoms prevent someone from working, taking care of themselves, or socialising, it is considered a clinical issue rather than a functional spiritual advancement. A psychosis can completely disconnect an individual from what is commonly thought of as reality and shared societal norms. In contrast real spiritual awakenings lead to deeper empathy, clarity, and an enhanced ability to connect with others and care for others.
Scientists recognise that schizophrenia is heavily linked to imbalances in neurotransmitters, which are the chemical messengers that allow brain cells to communicate.
The most well-documented chemical changes include changes in the brain's dopamine metabolism. People with schizophrenia also often have abnormal glutamate activity. Glutamate plays a major role in learning, memory, and thinking.
GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a chemical responsible for calming brain activity. Deficits in GABA systems are also common in schizophrenia. Serotonin regulates mood, sleep, and perception. Imbalances and abnormal interactions between serotonin and dopamine are heavily involved in the neurobiology of the disorder. Recent research also points to altered iron storage in specific brain regions, which impacts how dopamine is synthesised and managed. These chemical shifts aren't just isolated events; they are closely tied to structural differences in the brain, such as reductions in grey matter volume over time. Most of the drugs used to treat schizophrenia block dopamine receptors to manage and so reduce psychotic symptoms.
The abuse of drugs, such as opiates, LSD and even nicotine can give people exciting or calming experiences that can be very real. Some people seem to be biologically wired as ‘adrenaline junkies’ causing them to actively seek out high-risk or high-excitement situations for pleasure and focus.
What does having a ‘spiritual’ side mean?
This desire for experiences and answers to life’s big questions does suggest that there is more to life than the physical world. People are more than chemistry and biology. Our spiritual side asks whether there are answers to life, does life have a meaning whether there is a ‘higher power’ that can be known,
Throughout the world’s history people have sought for answers to the big questions in a wide variety of ways. Meditation, ritual worship, drugs, astrology, religious experiences have all been used and sought. Through such activities many say, ‘I felt peace’, ‘I felt awakened’ or ‘I felt connected to God”. Today it is most common for our spirituality to be based on experiences. I had a patient who told me that he was an atheist but as we talked he said:
“When I was a student I did have a very real experience of God.”
He did eventually become a Christian when he looked at the evidence for it being true.
People’s experiences can control the way they think. It is not uncommon for people to say:
“Well, my truth is . . .”
What they really mean is that they have decided to believe in what they have experienced or have been taught. But the truth is an absolute value that God knows. Even Plato understood this. In science, in medicine, in law and in relationships people are searching for the truth using a variety of rational means. It is truth that people should act on. Internal experiences are not a valid means of determining the truth. Two people’s experiences mat differ so to say, “It is my truth . . .” is really saying, “It is my opinion.” Opposing views cannot both be true.
One person may say, ‘I think of God as a person that we can know.’ Another speaks of their god as an energy or force. One person thinks we are reincarnated into another type of being on this earth and another denies this. Such people may be convinced but such contradicting views cannot both be right.
It is therefore obvious that feelings alone cannot answer the deepest questions about reality and the purpose of life. This is surely obvious. I remember a patient whose barium enema X-ray had shown an operable carcinoma of the colon. When an operation was recommended, she turned down the offer saying, “I prefer to try ‘spiritual healing’ and she discharged herself. She returned in six months in a much worse state. Her feelings about spiritual healing were unfounded. Another patient was a Pentecostal church minister who had severe ulcerative colitis. He felt confident that the promises he had been given by fellow ministers that he would be supernaturally healed were valid. He refused all medical treatment. Some years later he returned with cancer of the colon that had spread to his liver, a not uncommon side effect of untreated colitis. Great confidence and faith are no guarantee that what is believed is true.
Feelings may give us comfort in the short time but only time will show if that confidence is true.
Jesus gives a different answer
Jesus gives a different answer, He asks us to move away from:
“This feels meaningful to me?”
He makes the extraordinary claim that he was the Son of God who had come to put people right with God. He says that he had come to fulfil all those Old Testament prophecies, to be the ultimate sacrifice for sin, and to be the God’s chosen king for all people and that a real relationship with him means we become acceptable to his Father. The obvious big question is whether this claim is true.
There are some who suggest that science has overturned the need for God. God scoffs at such suggestions. Psalm 2 describes nations that have rebelled against the rule of God and his Son. There he scoffs at such traitorous thinking. Psalm 19 was written by King David to explain why people should turn back to God. He starts with a look at the natural world saying that this could not have appeared without a creator.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4
It is a blind faith that cannot see that, in the birth of a new baby, in the design of the eye, the design of the sexes and in the creation of the DNA code that a creator had to be involved. Professor Anthony Flew was for over 50 years one of the world's leading philosophical atheists, renowned for his arguments against the existence of God. In late 2004, he made headlines by announcing he had accepted the existence of a God, primarily due to his study of DNA. Flew argued that DNA is an incredibly complex, information-bearing ‘language’ or ‘software’. As human language and digital codes consistently point to a mind behind them, he concluded that the staggering complexity and order of the genetic alphabet must be the work of an intelligent creator. Flew could not accept that the initial origin of the first self-replicating species could happen by random, naturalistic processes. He reasoned that the probability of these diverse elements coming together correctly by chance was essentially zero.
Psalm 2 continues with the reliability and importance of the Word of God. If God has not spoken in words, about why we are here and what we are here for, we will remain ignorant, but David was convinced that God has reliably spoken.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.
By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:7-11
This is remarkable. Our deepest needs for refreshing the soul, for joy, for righteousness, for genuine riches of experience, for rewards, are all said to be met by God through what he says to us. These benefits are only appropriated if we respond as God wants us to.
Jesus says that answers to life cannot be found by spiritual techniques or inner enlightenment. It depends completely on the claim that God stepped into human history as Jesus and that he died to pay for our sin and then rose again.
The Bible says that man’s main problem is not a lack of inner peace but that something is morally wrong within us all. We all have an innate rebellion against having a loving relationship with God in which he is in charge. Jesus says that we are not just emotionally lost but that we are actually lost in selfishness, guilt, evil and sin. These faults separate us from God and only a solution provided by God can ever resolve the problem. This means that we don’t just need inspiration or enlightenment, we need to be rescued.
Jesus did not say,
“I will help you find your truth”.
What he did say is:
“I am the truth’.
This is an astonishing claim. Jesus claimed to reveal God to us, to forgive our sin that separates us from God, to defeat death, and to reconcile us with God for eternity. He came, not merely to teach the way to god but to be the way to God.
Is the Christian gospel true?
Christianity depends utterly on whether Jesus really is who he claimed to be. At first his claim sounds far fetched, think about how extraordinary is the creation of a baby from a sexual relationship. If this claim of Jesus to be ‘one with his Father’ is untrue then Christianity collapses, even though it has given us the highest moral code ever given to man. However, if this story is true, and remember that the apostles gave their lives to tell us the evidence about him, then he cannot be just one spiritual option among many. When it comes to finding answers to the biggest questions in life, sincerity is not enough, the religion of our ancestors is not enough, our experiences are not enough, we all need reliable truth on which to base our lives. Jesus said that that rock was himself and what he taught. Truth does matter, both to God and to each of us. Any faith that does not come from God may have some benefits to society but cannot put people right with God.
A person may sound confident in their faith but does that faith come from God or from man? We need more than calming experiences, or spiritual techniques or religious excitement. We need true answers, we need rescuing, to be set free to live as God wants. Jesus said:
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
Jesus did not come to offer us spiritual insights or to be a guide pointing to truth. He is the way to God, he alone can give us real eternal life if we come to him, the truth. Jesus summarised this:
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father, except through me.” John 14:6
We are all spiritual people but Jesus says that there is only one way to God and that way is evidence based.
BVP
