Something There: The Biology of the Human Spirit - Softcover

"David Hay, zoologist by training, argues with powerful and persuasive data, that even in supposedly secularist and irreligious Britain, the human species possesses an openness to and even a need for spirituality and this because of a development in the evolutionary process. The book is a challenge to both the religious and to those who are not religious." -- Andrew Greeley

Despite the decline of institutional religion, a remarkable new phenomenon is emerging. Survey figures show that interest in spirituality, often expressed as the awareness of 'something there', is rising right across the developed world. Research in the biological, psychological and social sciences strongly suggests that spiritual awareness is a genuine and deep seated aspect of what it is to be human. David Hay's interviews with hundreds of 'ordinary' people, with no formal religious affiliation, back up the view that spirituality is hard-wired into our biological make-up. Such an understanding of our spiritual nature cuts across divisions such as those traditionally seen between science and religion. By applying scientific method to religious enquiry, this book offers a new account of the importance of spirituality for human well-being.