The science of love

The Bible clearly tells us that we are to love one another; it also proclaims that we are to bear one another’s burdens. Research has revealed that when we show concern for others—empathizing with a friend who has lost a loved one, mowing the lawn for an elderly neighbor, or volunteering to mentor a school-aged child—we improve our own health and well-being and embrace and give voice to our deeper identity and dignity as human beings. Not only does Stephen Post, author of The Hidden Gifts of Helping, have first-hand knowledge of this from his own experience, he has actively led research on the topic as the President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love.

The Hidden Gifts of Helping includes some of the findings of Godly Love National Survey (GLNS), a full national survey of over 1200 adults. The results show that 80% of Americans, report at least one experience of God's love in their lifetimes, and that this has uniformly enlivened their benevolence. In fact, 45% of Americans feel God’s love at least once a day.

This national survey shows that the Christian Great Commandment to love God and love neighbor as self is alive and well in the United States. An overwhelming majority of Americans experience divine love at least occasionally and over half experience it most days or more often. Eight out of ten American adults feel that God's love increases their compassion for others at least occasionally and just over half feel this most days or more frequently. 

 An excerpt from The Hidden Gifts of Helping:

I am no flashy mystic with some marketable new vision—just a simple mainstream Christian trying in a small way to contribute to the practice and knowledge of self-giving love in a culture and a world that often seems to run in the opposite direction. But like a majority of Americans, I have intuited an ultimate reality of love…

Scientific perspectives on love

We can’t study Unlimited Love directly, as if it were a measurable force, but we can study people’s self-reported experience of it and see whether their lives are inspired to love in an enduring and powerful way. Research into Unlimited Love allows that there may be some form of perfectly unconditional, pure, enduring, wise, effective, and all-inclusive love—whether you call it “God’s love” or “Godly love” or some other name. This love regards each of us equally, no one more than anyone else. That in itself is profoundly significant.

Our institute has been able to fund more than eighty scientific studies at premier research universities. One of the primary things we have shown is that love of others and love of self are not in any essential opposition unless the self-expenditure of giving self becomes so demanding that it under minds the care of the self. The reason people assume that self-giving love and self-love are oppose is that they think of themselves as independent creatures connected only on the basis of choice. But the truth is that humans are relational and interdependent creatures, and the good of the giver is very often inseparable from that of the recipient. The very use of our capacity to give is part of our flourishing, just as is the use of our eyes, our ears, and our minds…

…Research has shown that in general, people who report significant levels of generous activities live happier, healthier and longer lives. But there are always exceptions. Bad things happen to all people, no matter how good they are. But on the whole, it’s good to be good…

A national survey of unlimited love

Is it “normal” to have faith in a God of Unlimited Love? Or am I part of a fringe group? I know that for many people, this sort of spiritual intuition is a bit more than they can take. Well, beginning in 2008, along with my sociologist colleagues John Green, Margaret Poloma, Matt Lee, we developed a randomized national survey of adults to find out!

To find out what Post and his colleagues learned from the Godly Love National Survey, invite him to share the results with your listeners. Stephen Post is available for interviews.

www.stephengpost.com/hiddengifts

About the author: Stephen Post is recognized as a leader in the study of altruism, love, and compassion in the integrative context of scientific research, philosophy, and spirituality. He is President of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, with support from philanthropist John Templeton and the Templeton Foundation. Post is an elected member of the International Society for Science and Religion and writes a blog for Psychology Today entitled “The Joy of Giving.”

 A public intellectual committed to conveying important ideas in the wider culture, Post has appeared on a diverse range of radio and television programs, including Hour of Power, Nightline, 20/20, and National Public Radio.