Spiritual Evolution

May 1, 2008
Vaillant believes that humans are hardwired for positive emotions and that those emotions are essential to survival as a species. Defining spirituality as a combination of love, hope, joy, forgiveness, compassion, faith, awe, and gratitude that binds people together (Spirituality is more about us than me), he argues that it has a biological basis. Inspired by the relatively new scientific disciplines of ethology (animal behavior) and neuroscience and using prayers, poetry, and song lyrics to illustrate his points, Vaillant explores the evolution of language and the development of human brain function, discusses the differences between right and left brain hemispheres, and examines the mammalian limbic system. He comments on the often exceedingly slow maturation of human culture and in the last chapter discusses the differences between religion and spirituality. Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, this is a thoughtful, compassionate, and hopeful survey of how far humanity has come and how far it still has to go on the cultural-spiritual continuum.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)