Shows / How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
While religion and science often seem at odds, there’s one thing they can agree on: people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The big question is: Why? In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out how spirituality impacts our minds and bodies, as well as the world in which we live.He speaks to leading scientists and philosophers, religious thinkers, and thought leaders to explore what we can learn from the…
Episodes
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
HGW Presents: Oh God Now What
How God Works will be back with all new episodes in September. In the meantime, we're excited to feature an episode from our friends at Oh God Now What, hosted…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Bonus Episode: God, Code, and Consciousness (Aspen Ideas)
As humans increasingly turn to AI for moral guidance and answers to life’s biggest questions, the lines between technology and religion are blurring—even…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Aliens and Spirituality (Encore Presentation)
Religion is often about powerful beings coming down from the skies and humans yearning to go up to join them. Does that mean we can swap aliens in for God?…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualitySearching for Signs
Throughout history, humans have searched for signs and symbols to help them navigate uncertainty. From ancient Chinese divination texts and Greek oracles to…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityHumor and Judaism: A Conversation with Robby Hoffman
According to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, more American Jews cite having a sense of humor as important to their Jewish identity than things like keeping…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityRethinking Sin… Again
We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. But why do some people seem to struggle so much more than others when it comes to avoiding harmful behavior? And what…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityDeus Ex Machina
We’ve always assumed that if there IS a God, that God made us. But what if it ends up being the other way around… and we’re already further along than we…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityDoubt (Part II)
Uncertainty about faith can be anxiety provoking and even cause people to leave religion altogether. But that's not the way it works in all traditions. In…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityDoubt (Part I)
Religion can help provide answers to many questions in life - big and small. And in doing so, give a sense of security and understanding of the world and our…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityWhat Women Want
In conversations about women’s rights, religion and feminism are often cast as incompatible. But religious women tend to see it differently. In this episode…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityDIY Spirituality?
About 70% of all Americans consider themselves spiritual in some way, whether it be a belief in the soul, spirits or just the idea that something's going on…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Season 10 Trailer
Join us for Season 10 of How God Works, starting next week!
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Uniter or Divider? Explore Religion in Modern America. A How God Works Live Event (From the Archive)
We’ll be back on March 15 with an all-new season of How God Works! In the meantime, we’re excited to share one of our favorite episodes — our very first live…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
The Spiritual (and Political) Crisis in the US (From the Archive)
A brand-new season of How God Works returns March 15! In the meantime, we’re revisiting a powerful episode from our archive that feels particularly relevant…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityMattering
Feeling that our life is meaningful - that we add value to the world and are valued by the people around us, isn’t just a good feeling, it's a fundamentally…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Rethinking Sin (From the Archive)
For many people, the word “sin” is associated with harsh judgment and shame. Or, it’s used to talk about guilty pleasures like consuming decadent desserts…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityThe End of the World As We Know It
These days, it feels like the end of the world is always just around the corner. From RaptureTok to climate doom and geopolitical upheaval, someone always…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityDream Yoga
We spend about a third of our lives sleeping and yet the question of why we sleep and dream has remained a mystery for much of human existence. But recently…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityShamanism
When life feels uncertain, who do you turn to? Across cultures and throughout history, many of us have looked to people who seemed to have a special set of…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityGive Us This Day Our Daily Kale
For most of human history, religion guided people’s choices about health and food. Then with the rise of modern nutritional science in the 19th century, people…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityBecoming Wise
We often think of wisdom as something that comes with age, or as a gift reserved for a chosen few. But what if wisdom is more like a muscle… one that becomes…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualitySeeking the Spiritual Life
If you want to grow spiritually, should you go to a monastery and withdraw from the world, or look for greater meaning, connection, and purpose in the loud…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityThe Friendship Cure
We say friends are what make life worth living. But if that’s true, why are so many of us struggling to find and keep them these days? And what can we do to…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Season 9 Trailer
Join us for Season 9 of How God Works, starting next week!
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Healing Rituals: There's Power in Belief (From the Archive)
We will be back with a whole new season of How God Works on October 5th. In the meantime, we wanted to share some of our favorite episodes from the archives. A…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Midlife: Leaning Into the Change (From the Archive)
We'll be back with a whole new season of How God Works on October 5th. But in the meantime, we wanted to share some of our favorite episodes from the…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
HGW Presents: How Rituals Help Us Process Grief (The Science of Happiness)
How God Works will be back with all new episodes this fall. In the meantime, we're taking the opportunity to share episodes from some of our favorite shows…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
HGW Presents: Kelly Corrigan Wonders (with Rainn Wilson)
How God Works will be back with all new episodes this fall. In the meantime, we're taking the opportunity to share episodes from some of our favorite shows…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Bonus: Losing Our Religion or Finding What Matters?
As more Americans move away from organized religion, the moral and emotional needs once met by faith communities remain. What can secular society borrow from…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Speaking in Tongues
The spiritual practice of speaking in tongues –a form of communication with the divine through speaking words in an unknown or unrecognizable language– has…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
The Soul and Science of Prayer
What is prayer? And why do it? People pray for all kinds of reasons, and in all kinds of ways: alone, together, aloud, in silence, from memory, or from…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Of God and Men
There's a lot of talk these days about a crisis of masculinity. But is it a genuine problem or just another culture war talking point? In this special episode…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Adolescence: How to Build an Adult (From the Archive)
Hey listeners, we'll be back in two weeks with a special episode looking at the multiple challenges facing men in America today. But while you wait, we wanted…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
The Conscious Cosmos
For centuries, Western science and philosophy have struggled to explain what consciousness is and where it comes from. What if the answer to both those…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Found By Faith
People find faith or change faiths for many reasons: marriage, raising a family, dealing with grief or crisis. But sometimes it happens the other way around……
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Fasting for the Soul
Many would agree there are few things better than sharing a delicious meal with the people you love, which is one reason why breaking bread together is a…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Origins of Belief
We often think of belief as a religious or cultural idea that is a hallmark of modern humans. But what if the early sparks of belief burned in our ancestors’…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Marriage, Monogamy and the Modern Mind
When it comes to finding happiness, many religions see marriage as the gold standard: a path to love, stability, and fulfillment. But is that really true? And…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Season 8 Trailer
Join us for Season 8 of How God Works, starting next week!
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Every Breath You Take (From the Archive)
We'll be back with a whole new season of How God Works on March 9th. But in the meantime, we wanted to share shows from our archives that speak to some of the…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Moving Beyond Us vs Them (From the Archive)
We'll be back with a whole new season of How God Works starting in early March. But in the meantime, we wanted to share a few shows from our archives that…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Religion and Robots and AI … Oh My! (From the Archive)
Artificial Intelligence, and its possible applications to religion, have been in the news a lot lately, so while we're busy working on Season 8, we thought…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Why Spirituality is Important in our Increasingly Secular World (Dave on the How to Be a Better Human Podcast)
Faith has always been a strong force in human history – but in modern times, it may feel antiquated to have it. This is an episode of the How to Be a Better…
How God Works: The Science Behind SpiritualityFinding Holiday Happiness
The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy. But all too often, the darker, colder days of winter, and even the stress of preparing for the holidays…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Finding Hope in Dark Times (From the Archive)
This episode from 2023 is one of our all-time listener favorites. We're sharing it again for anyone who may have missed it, or could do with a refresher…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
The Bad Place
Lots of religions embrace the idea of hell – a place of eternal punishment for wrong doers. But where did that idea come from? How has it changed through time?…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Near Death Experiences
People have been having Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) all over the world for as long as we can look back into history. And the strange thing is… these…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
So You say You’re a Cynic
There’s no question we’re living in difficult times that lead many of us to adopt a cynical outlook. But while cynicism might feel smart, science shows it’s…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Succeeding Without Trying
We spend a lot of time on How God Works talking about how spirituality can offer tools to become better versions of ourselves. And while learning to be…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Rethinking Regret
Regret can be a double-edged sword. It can be painful, and enduring, but we can also learn important lessons from it - IF we treat it right. Most religions…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Rethinking Sin
For many people, the word “sin” is associated with harsh judgment and shame. Or, it’s used to talk about guilty pleasures like consuming decadent desserts…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Season 7 Trailer
Join us for Season 7 of How God Works, starting next week!
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Making God Real (2022)
We've had a lot of new listeners join us of the past year, so while we're hard at work on our next season, we thought we'd share some favorites you might have…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Death (2022)
We've had a lot of new listeners join us of the past year, so while we're hard at work on our next season, we thought we'd share some favorites you might have…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Transcendence (2021)
We've had a lot of new listeners join us of the past year, so while we're hard at work on our next season, we thought we'd share some favorites you might have…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
A Holiday From Tech Addiction (2022)
We've had a lot of new listeners join us of the past year, so while we're hard at work on our next season, we thought we'd share some favorites you might have…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
How God Works Survey!
Hey Listeners, as we plan future seasons, we'd love to know what you appreciate most about the show... and what you think we can improve or would like to see…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
The Spiritual (and Political) Crisis in the US
Hey Listeners, we also want to hear from you! Please take a few minutes to fill out our audience survey and be a part of shaping future seasons. Anger…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
Live Event: Can Religion & Science Get Along in the 21st Century?
Science and religion can often seem at loggerheads. But does it have to be that way? Dr. Francis Collins, one of the world’s leading scientists, doesn’t think…
- How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality
How God Works… for Animals?
When it comes to how we treat other animals, humanity’s track record is spotty at best. Has it always been that way? And how do the beliefs we hold about…