How can spirituality help us achieve our goals?

It seems that one of the most striking phenomena on the global and Latvian spirituality market at the moment is the offer to perform various spiritual practices with the aim to gain some benefits: to become rich, to attract desired life events, to manifest a luxury lifestyle, to improve one's influence abilities, creativity, confidence, stress resistance, eating habits, overall sense of happiness, etc. Moreover, these offers to perform methods and techniques rooted in spiritual and religious traditions (such as meditation) are often presented without even mentioning the context of spirituality.

Spirituality or a self-improvement hobby for materialistic goals?

From a psychological perspective, the practice of spiritual practices for material gain is not seen as an authentic expression of spirituality, but as a form of spiritual delusion - spiritual materialism (spiritual materialism). This approach to the application of the dimension of spirituality is essentially an interpretation of spirituality with a shallow understanding (shallowness) (Vonk & Visser, 2020; Wieczner, 2016). 

Unlike spiritual materialism, which encourages improvement of the status quo, which in turn stems from dissatisfaction with the status quo, authentic spiritual growth leads to a direct engagement with reality as it is.

On the other hand, consumers of spiritual materialism tend to approach spirituality with an attitude that is always seeking to try the latest, most advanced meditation technique or transformation method and to visit the most popular guru. Criticisms of materialistic spiritual path followers emphasize that these individuals do not experience a fundamental change in their orientation to life, but simply pursue a hobby of self-improvement and cultivate self-worship (Johnston, 2009).

Spirituality in the context of achieving goals

However, there is a grain of truth in the current state of the pop culture spirituality market - spirituality can be helping you achieve your goals The psychological mechanisms through which this can be achieved are discussed in the following article.

Spirituality as a mechanism for self-regulation and self-control

One of the psychological functions of spirituality is to enhance a person's capacity for self-regulation and self-control, which in turn enables them to achieve positive outcomes in different areas of their lives (McCullough & Carter, 2013).

Explaining what is meant by "self-regulation" and "self-control".

Self-regulation (self-regulation) is the mental process by which a person uses information about his or her current state to change that state to a more appropriate desired end state or goal. In most cases, self-regulation is relatively effortless and automatic (McCullough & Carter, 2013).

Self-check (self-control) is a mental process in which a person makes an effort to suppress a potential response (e.g. behaviour, emotion, motivation). In the case of self-control, a person changes his or her response patterns by suppressing one goal in order to achieve another goal that is more highly valued. For example, a person values getting up early in the morning more than staying up late at night. Self-control suppresses the desire to watch a TV series in the evening and instead the person goes to bed (McCullough & Carter, 2013).

Self-regulation in a way that benefits society

How do spirituality and religion contribute to self-regulation and self-control mechanisms? And how does it increase a person's chances of achieving the results they want?

Spiritual and religious worldviews mostly offer certain teachings on how to live better and be a fulfilled human being. Moreover, these teachings are always seen in the context of culture and relationships - how to be the best possible person, in society, in interaction with others. 

Accordingly, following spiritual and religious beliefs has a positive effect on how a person fits into the overall social context. 

Spiritual and religious beliefs, then, offer people norms of behaviour that are largely consistent with socially desirable behavioural patterns and psychological functioning mechanisms. Accordingly, individuals who embrace one or the other spiritual or religious beliefs regulate their behaviour, emotions and motivations in socially desirable ways that increase their likelihood of being perceived favourably by their peers (McCullough & Carter, 2013).

Positive peer influence as a mediator of self-benefit

What happens next? Just logical regularities. If a person is perceived favourably by his peers, his chances of receiving supportive and affirming attitudes, external reciprocity and help increase, which are very helpful in achieving goals and getting the results he wants for himself.

In addition, research shows that individuals with higher levels of self-regulation and self-control are more likely to find effective psychological and behavioural mechanisms to change in the direction they want. In the context of spirituality, cues to desired behaviour from spiritual and religious texts may be particularly motivating for change because they are internally perceived as sacred (McCullough & Carter, 2013).

An example from the context of psychological support

One context in which spirituality and religiosity are targeted to change health behaviour by strengthening a person's capacity for self-regulation and self-control is alcoholism. For example, one of the dominant approaches to alcoholism treatment is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Through this initiative, a person develops humanity, inner strength, a sense of meaning and purpose, acceptance, tolerance and harmony in life. All these elements are also essential components of spirituality - the foundation of AA is spiritual growth through the practice of certain spiritual principles. Spirituality is a key element of recovery (Aldiqs & Hamdan-Mansour, 2021).

By bringing out the dimension of spirituality in man, he begins to regulate himself in a way that is good for society. In the case of alcoholism, it is a mechanism to stop drinking and to start developing a lifestyle that is more socially acceptable. Accordingly, by regulating one's behaviour in a socially acceptable way, one's chances of living a fulfilling life and achieving one's goals increase.

Spiritual and religious people have higher self-control

Research in personality psychology shows that spirituality and religiosity are linked to self-control at the personality level. Religious people tend to have higher self-control scores than less religious people. It should be noted, however, that this only applies to intrinsic religiosity (intrinsic religiosity), rather than external religiosity (extrinsic religiosity) with which self-control has a negative correlation (McCullough & Carter, 2013). 

Accordingly, intrinsic religiosity is understood as a human orientation in which spiritual or religious practice is an end in itself rather than a means to other ends. In the case of external religiosity, on the other hand, spiritual practice is mostly a means to other ends, such as social morality or individual well-being (APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.).

Spirituality can support the achievement of goals in an indirect way

In summary, there are many people who want to achieve their personal goals in life - material, emotional and social. The higher a person's capacity for self-regulation and self-control, the greater his or her potential to regulate him or herself in the direction of desired change - both internally (to better manage emotions, appetite, impulsivity, etc.) and externally (to act in a socially desirable way, thereby gaining favour with peers).

Spiritual and religious teachings are largely about ethics, morality and how to shape your life in a way that is good for yourself, others and a higher power. By accepting these beliefs as the basis of one's life, one can begin to regulate oneself according to them.

It is also known that regular spiritual and religious practices oriented towards inner development (rather than external goals), such as prayer, meditation, reading spiritual and religious texts, increase self-regulation and self-control functions (McCullough & Carter, 2013), which in turn increases a person's likelihood of achieving their desired outcomes.

Authentic spirituality and the practice of spiritual practices is not an external pursuit of results. However, through embodying this dimension in our lives - learning spiritual teachings, becoming aware of them, regulating ourselves according to these teachings and practising spiritual practices - it is possible to develop behaviours that support the achievement of personal goals.

Sources:

Aldiqs A. & Hamdan-Mansourm A. M. (2021). The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Alcohol Use Treatment and Recovery: An Integrative Review. Medico-legal Update, 21 (1), 599-605.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). APA PsychNet. Retrieved October 18, 2023, from https://dictionary.apa.org/

Johnston, M. (2009). Saving god: Religion after idolatry. Princeton University Pres. ISBN: 9780691152615.

McCullough, M. E., & Carter, E. C. (2013). Religion, self-control, and self-regulation: How and why are they related? In K. I. Pargament, J. J. Exline, & J. W. Context, theory, and research (pp. 123-138). American Psychological Association.

Vonk, R., & Visser, A. (2020). An exploration of spiritual superiority: The paradox of self-enhancement. European Journal of Social Psychology, 51(1), 152-165. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2721.

Wieczner, J. (2016). Meditation has become a billion-dollar business. Fortune, March 12. Retrieved fromh ttp://fortune.com/2016/03/12/meditation-mindfulness-apps