Spirituality and Science

Scientists Discover a ‘God Gene’ in Humans

By brother-initiate Richard Demetrious, Cairns Highlands,
Queensland, Australia (Originally in English)

“Is God in Our Genes?” An article in the October 2004 issue of Time magazine addresses this question by exploring the link between God and spirituality via the human genetic code. (Please refer to http://www.americanmeditation.org/gene_god.htm)

The article focuses mainly on the research of molecular biologist and Chief of Gene Structure at the National Cancer Institute, Dean Hamer, who objectively examines the views of other scientists on this subject. The author states, “Hamer not only claims that human spirituality is an adaptive trait, but also says he has located one of the genes responsible, a gene that just happens to also code for production of the neurotransmitters that regulate our moods.”

Hamer’s work on the “God gene” began in 1998, while he was conducting research for the National Cancer Institute on smoking and addiction. A thousand smokers were selected to do a psychological “temperament and character” test, which included a measure of three aspects of “spirituality”: the participant’s level of self-forgetfulness (the ability to get lost in an experience), the level of transpersonal identification (the feeling of being connected to a larger universe) and mysticism (openness to things that one cannot actually prove). After conducting the test, Hamer ranked the participants in terms of their spirituality, and then analyzed their genes to look for a correlation between spirituality and genetic codes.

After putting all the data together, Hamer found that a variation in a specific gene was related to how the volunteers scored on the spirituality test. Those with a certain nucleic acid in one spot on the gene ranked statistically higher, and those with a different nucleic acid in that same spot ranked lower. Thus, a link between biology and spirituality seemed to have been discovered.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has spoken of how we must overcome our genetic tendencies through daily meditation in order to achieve successful spiritual evolution. She also teaches about reincarnation and how we bring past tendencies into our present lives. This might explain why some people are born with more “spiritual” genetic structures than others. Individuals who have practiced diligently in previous lifetimes have innate memories of the bliss they experienced, and so naturally feel more open to being uplifted by spiritual information. This tendency now appears to be at least partly measurable by examining one’s genes.

The Supreme Master also says that the Quan Yin Method makes us feel lighter, happier and more intelligent, which fits in perfectly with the research discussed above. Master may be the best scientist around!

In his study, Hamer is quick to point out that the gene he discovered is not necessarily the only one that governs a person’s spirituality and adds that there may be many, suggesting that his work is just a preview of research to come. Perhaps in the future, this area of “spiritual science” will help all geneticists become spiritual practitioners.