Tippett also talks about those who use nature to experience the spiritual. One of those she interviewed was former priest John O’Donohue, who spoke about the abstract aesthetics of the landscape he grew up in, which he said were “all laid down by some wild surrealistic kind of deity like a wild invitation to extend your imagination.”
She says that this plays into the notion of “awe” and the work of Dacher Keltner at the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.
“And not only is an awe a real thing,” Tippett says, “awe is a life-giving, health-giving thing.”
While “awe” has been historically connected to religion and belief in God, she says Keltner’s research shows humans can experience awe through the natural world.
To her, part of the key is that mind, body and spirit are not separate — she says the spiritually she pursues is about connecting your inner and outer self, making space for discernment and authenticity. It’s about “constantly coming back, looking inward, getting re-centered, looking beyond ourselves,” she says.
Can Spirituality Exist Without God? A Growing Number Of Americans Say Yes https://t.co/JV9crFdGhG pic.twitter.com/pKJaAe3J23
— WPSU (@WPSU) January 15, 2020