Suffering and Spiritual Awakening:

A How Humans are Designed for Spiritual Growth

with Dr. Lisa Miller

Thursday, 1/15

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Via Zoom

Please note that this program will not be recorded


The Forum for Life and Meaning, HIU, and the Spiritual Life Center invite you to join us for a presentation by Dr Lisa Miller, renowned neuroscience researcher, clinical psychologist, and professor of psychology at Columbia University, where she founded the Spirituality Mind-Body Institute. The evening will include a Question and Answer period with Dr Miller and time spent in small group processing.


Dr Miller will show that there are circuits in the brain which support spiritual life. Everyone has such circuits by birth, and thus everyone has potential for spiritual development. Engagement of these circuits by people from all cultures and spiritual traditions, as well as those with no religious background, is a sign of unity among all people.


Spiritual practices, such as meditation, time in nature, creative expression, and membership in a community of faith, strengthen these neural pathways, producing resilience against depression and suffering. Difficult times of loss, struggle, and suffering potentiate spiritual growth, which in turn can foster neural protection.



In Dr Miller’s view, healing for our challenges and suffering isn’t just about symptom relief; it’s about tuning into a broader consciousness and discovering meaning that transforms how we see ourselves and the world.



Cost: $30

Click Here to Register

Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of

The Spiritual Child and The Awakened Brain, and a professor in

The Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia

University. She is the Founder and Director of the Spirituality

Mind Body Institute and has held  over a decade of joint

appointments in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia

University Medical School. Dr Miller has served as Principal

Investigator on multiple grant-funded research studies and her

innovative research has been published in more than one

hundred peer-reviewed articles in leading journals. She is Editor

of the Oxford University Press Handbook of Psychology and

Spirituality and the two-time President of the APA Society for

Psychology and Spirituality.