No matter how devout an individual, spiritual awareness isn’t a constant, researchers find, but rather fluctuates throughout the day.
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The Devil Throughout History: Photos
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A modern of depiction of Satan in the likeness of a goat with horns and goatee. The Devil: Alive and Well?
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Images of devils proliferated in the Middle Ages. The devil was often depicted as a terrifying, horned beast. In this mosaic by Coppo di Marcovaldo (1225-1276) in the Baptistery of Florence, Satan is devouring the damned while monsters in the shape of a snake, frog or lizard come out from his body. Gate to Hell Found in Turkey
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In Christian art, the devil is typically portrayed as having horns of a goat and a ram, a pig's nose and teeth, and a goat's fur and ears. This image is a 16th-century painting by Jacob de Backer in the National Museum in Warsaw. PHOTOS: Rome Awaits the New Pope
BurgererSF/Wikimedia Commons 4.Dante
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Historically, the devil had many names and roles. He is the serpent who tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, the fallen angel who rebelled against God, the Dragon, Beelzebub, the Father of Lies, Lucifer, Satan, the Prince of Darkness. A giant beast, Lucifer, the King of Hell, stood frozen to the waist in a lake of ice in Dante's Divine Commedy. Engraving by Gustave Doré illustrating Canto XXXIV of Divine Comedy, Inferno, by Dante Alighieri. When 'Exorcising' a Home May Be a Smart Move
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A popular icon in the past, the devil appears to be alive and kicking also in Pope Francis' modernizing church. The pontiff has alluded to him ever since his first homily as Pope, describing the devil as a real presence even in the 21st century. Unafraid of criticism for bringing back what many see as the superstitions of the middle ages, the Vatican last month faced the demonic threat by hosting its largest convention on exorcism. Called "Exorcism and Prayers of Liberation," the meeting included a six-day course to train about 200 Roman Catholic priests from more than 30 countries in the ancient rite of exorcism. In this 1519 painting, an exorcism is being performed on a woman who has previously killed her child and her parents. New Pope Is Argentinian Bergoglio
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While fewer Americans are identifying with any religious group than in years past, the overwhelming majority still ascribe to some religious or spiritual belief system.
More than three-quarters of Americans identify with some religious denomination, according to Pew Research Center. Even those who are unaffiliated with any religion still insist faith is important in their lives.
Although the number of people identifying with various religious denominations can vary according to social trends and generational shifts, a new study presented at the the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) finds that many people can experience fluctuations in spiritual awareness over the course of a day.
This doesn’t mean belief waivers depending on the time, of course. Rather, the sense of spiritual connectedness can fluctuate based on time of day and activity.
University of Connecticut researchers surveyed a total of 2,439 people every day for two weeks. Participants provided the study’s authors with data in real time by using their smartphones to respond to between 15 and 25 randomly selected questions out of a batch of 120 total. Spiritual awareness, for the purposes of this survey, is defined as feeling connected to God, a higher power or some greater calling.
The researchers found that people felt the most spiritually connected in the morning. As might be expected, activities that resulted in higher levels of spiritual awareness included praying, worshiping and meditation. Study participants also reported higher levels of spirituality while listening to music, reading or exercising.
So what activities led people to report lower levels of spiritual awareness? Perhaps unsurprisingly, work was listed as lowering spiritual awareness. The more someone worked, the less spiritually aware they reported feeling.
Playing video games was also correlated with a lower sense of spiritual awareness. And while those who kept on the news had higher spiritual awareness overall than those who didn’t, the act of watching the news led to a decline in spirituality across the board.
Whatever an individual’s religious or spiritual inclinations, previous studies have found that religion and spirituality can have implications for health and well-being.
Research published last year in the journal Psychology of Religion and Spiritualityfound distinctive effects of religious versus spiritual practice. Religiosity, which is often linked with specific prescriptions on lifestyle and behavior, is associated with healthier habits, such as avoiding smoking or excessive alcohol consumption.
High levels of spirituality, which is more tied to mindfulness and emotional regulation, can induce physiological effects, such as reducing blood pressure.
Similarly, a 2014 study published in JAMA Psychiatryfound that spiritual or religious practice can help guard against depression. Researchers from Columbia University took brain scans over 100 adults, and found that those who reported high levels of spirituality showed thicker portions of brain cortices, which could make them more resilient against depression.
In fact, previous research by the study’s authors found that adults coming from families with a history of depression had a 90 percent reduced risk of the disease if they placed high important on religious or spiritual devotion.
Taken together, the studies should provide ample motivation for anyone looking to get in touch with their spiritual side and a timeline of when to go about it.