Scientific insights into how humans access deep spiritual states

While one is quiet and deeply focused, and the other emotionally charged and expressive, both appear to harness the same cognitive feedback loop to create profound states of joy and surrender.

The research, co-led by Michael Lifshitz, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University and Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, with collaborators from Monash University and the University of Toronto, identified a phenomenon they call the Attention, Arousal and Release Spiral -- a mental cycle that deepens both meditative and energized states.

Their findings, published in American Journal of Human Biology, offers new insights into how humans can cultivate deep states of focus.

"If we can understand this process better, we may be able to help more people access deep states of tranquility and bliss for themselves," said Lifshitz. "In another sense, our findings may help to promote a sense of commonality and mutual respect between spiritual traditions. Despite differences in beliefs, we are all sharing a human experience."

A common pathway to bliss

The researchers found that both jhāna meditators and those speaking in tongues enter a reinforcing cycle: they focus their attention on an object, such as the breath in meditation or God in prayer, which triggers a sense of joy. This joy makes attention feel effortless, leading to a feeling of surrender, which deepens the experience.

"As far as we know, this spiralling dynamic leading to increasingly deep and effortless bliss is a novel idea in the psychological sciences," said Lifshitz. "It's fascinating that these radically different spiritual traditions seem to have discovered it and made use of it in different ways."

To uncover this link, researchers collected firsthand accounts from Buddhist meditation retreats and evangelical Christian worship services in the U.S. They asked participants to describe the subtle micro-moments of their attention and emotional state during their practice. They also recorded the practitioners' brain activity. While full neurobiological results are still being analyzed, early findings suggest that both practices involve a cognitive shift that allows for a uniquely immersive experience.

The next step involves using brain imaging techniques to map the physiological changes that occur as attention, arousal and release unfold in real time.