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What Your Body Knows About God: How We Are Designed to Connect, Serve and Thrive
Have you ever had an experience where you felt particularly aware of God? If God is real, and we are created in God's image, then it makes sense that our minds and bodies would be designed with the perceptive ability to sense and experience God. Scientists are now discovering ways that our bodies are designed to connect with God. Brain research shows that our brain systems are wired to enable us to have spiritual experiences. The spiritual circuits that are used in prayer or worship are also involved in developing compassion for others. Our bodies have actually been created to love God and serve our neighbors. Award-winning journalist Rob Moll chronicles the fascinating ways in which our brains and bodies interact with God and spiritual realities. He reports on neuroscience findings that show how our brains actually change and adapt when engaged in spiritual practices. We live longer, healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives when we cultivate the biological spiritual capacity that puts us in touch with God. God has created our bodies to fulfill the Great Commandment; we are hardwired to commune with God and to have compassion and community with other people. Moll explores the neuroscience of prayer, how liturgy helps us worship, why loving God causes us to love others, and how a life of love and service leads to the abundant life for which we were created. Just as our physical bodies require exercise to stay healthy, so too can spiritual exercises and practices revitalize our awareness of God. Heighten your spiritual senses and discover how you have been designed for physical and spiritual flourishing.
217 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2014
38 people are currently reading
436 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 12, 2020
Moll's a good read - a journalist's voice with a helpful infusion of personal story and perspective. He's got a great topic here as I've often thought that the latest learnings in science and healthcare potentially point to God...but such can also be explained via evolutionary biology. Moll doesn't overstep or over-assume in describing things from a "this points to God" approach, and I found his explanations of "How We Are Designed to Connect, Serve, and Thrive" helpful and compelling.
May 3, 2016
Summary: Explores how our neurophysiology enables us to connect to God and others and how spiritual practices, liturgies, and opportunities to serve enable us to physically as well as spiritually thrive.
Believing people have long contended that to be human is to be made for God–to commune with God, to live in the world for God. Rob Moll, in this fascinating book, shows how the latest neuroscience and physiological research show how indeed our bodies seem disposed to spiritual seeking and living that spiritual life in the physical world.
For example: contemplative prayer practiced over eight weeks results in people who are more compassionate and observable changes occur in the brain. We are born connectors with an inborn capacity for relationship. Children who experience deeply love and mentoring in multi-generational Christian communities most often go on in adulthood to mature faith (my own story). Mirror neurons enable us to sense the mental states of others. The social nature of our brains suggests that our believing and belonging are connected. The powerful neurotransmitters secreted in our experiences of intimate love, whether mother and child, loves, or more darkly with various forms of pornography re-wire our brains for deep intimacy or auto-erotic isolation. It is often in our deepest weakness and physical suffering that we experience the most profound spiritual transformation.
Spiritual disciplines work by physical practice that shape our desires and emotions. The combination of social and multi-sensory experience (bodily movement, sound, smells, visuals, taste, and more) all combine to shape our knowledge of God. Serving others is indeed deeply satisfying and more so than self-indulgence. Moll summarizes his findings in this way:
“Our physical bodies, down to the wiring in our brains and the genes in our cells and the chemicals filling the synapse between neurons, need this kind of faith. We have been designed for it. We are made to perceive and connect to God in a way that changes our very nature. And these changes are made most manifest in the tangible ways that we care for one another. As we connect with God and invite others to join this life of prayer, worship, community and service, we align our biological and spiritual selves with the Creator of the universe and the most fundamental guide for life–loving God and loving others” (p. 201).
It strikes me that there are two ways to respond to the knowledge Moll describes. One is the direction Moll goes which is to recognize the deep wisdom in the scriptures and centuries-long traditions of the church. The other could be scary, a form of psycho-social engineering of experience to manipulate spiritual experience. One treats people as free agents made for God and seeks their flourishing by inviting them into the wisdom of the Way which is also a wisdom of the body. The other manipulates people, using knowledge of neurophysiology to control responses and devotion. It is the method of cults and fanatical movements.
Moll doesn’t discuss the latter, but understanding the true has not only its own benefits, but also helps us recognize the counterfeits and the power of the spurious. Perhaps this is also knowledge the body needs.
Believing people have long contended that to be human is to be made for God–to commune with God, to live in the world for God. Rob Moll, in this fascinating book, shows how the latest neuroscience and physiological research show how indeed our bodies seem disposed to spiritual seeking and living that spiritual life in the physical world.
For example: contemplative prayer practiced over eight weeks results in people who are more compassionate and observable changes occur in the brain. We are born connectors with an inborn capacity for relationship. Children who experience deeply love and mentoring in multi-generational Christian communities most often go on in adulthood to mature faith (my own story). Mirror neurons enable us to sense the mental states of others. The social nature of our brains suggests that our believing and belonging are connected. The powerful neurotransmitters secreted in our experiences of intimate love, whether mother and child, loves, or more darkly with various forms of pornography re-wire our brains for deep intimacy or auto-erotic isolation. It is often in our deepest weakness and physical suffering that we experience the most profound spiritual transformation.
Spiritual disciplines work by physical practice that shape our desires and emotions. The combination of social and multi-sensory experience (bodily movement, sound, smells, visuals, taste, and more) all combine to shape our knowledge of God. Serving others is indeed deeply satisfying and more so than self-indulgence. Moll summarizes his findings in this way:
“Our physical bodies, down to the wiring in our brains and the genes in our cells and the chemicals filling the synapse between neurons, need this kind of faith. We have been designed for it. We are made to perceive and connect to God in a way that changes our very nature. And these changes are made most manifest in the tangible ways that we care for one another. As we connect with God and invite others to join this life of prayer, worship, community and service, we align our biological and spiritual selves with the Creator of the universe and the most fundamental guide for life–loving God and loving others” (p. 201).
It strikes me that there are two ways to respond to the knowledge Moll describes. One is the direction Moll goes which is to recognize the deep wisdom in the scriptures and centuries-long traditions of the church. The other could be scary, a form of psycho-social engineering of experience to manipulate spiritual experience. One treats people as free agents made for God and seeks their flourishing by inviting them into the wisdom of the Way which is also a wisdom of the body. The other manipulates people, using knowledge of neurophysiology to control responses and devotion. It is the method of cults and fanatical movements.
Moll doesn’t discuss the latter, but understanding the true has not only its own benefits, but also helps us recognize the counterfeits and the power of the spurious. Perhaps this is also knowledge the body needs.
February 23, 2022
This was a clear well written book on how our mind, bodies and emotions work together as creatures created for worship and intimacy with our Creator. A lot of surprising cutting edge science here. New ideas I've never heard but that make amazing sense. Greatly increased my understanding of why we can't really control our own lives very well, and how healing, change and growth flow directly from God into our subconscious and thence into our thoughts and actions. Amazing stuff.
June 28, 2021
Moll connects modern neuroscience to our call to love God and love others. I appreciated how he called us to worship God as we learned how intricate our brains are, acknowledged the mystery that still exists in faith, and used science as an encouragement, not as the basis of our faith. Our brains are wired for spiritual and social connection, making it possible for us to fulfill the greatest commandment and the one like it with God's help.
December 17, 2020
What an amazing book. There are so many ties to our spiritual and physical responses to our world, that it is mind boggling. Here Rob Moll sets forth scientific and physical evidence of how we are made to connect. Even loving and serving one another is great for our health and well-being.
I recommend this book highly.
I recommend this book highly.
February 10, 2015
What a great book! This is an easy read, well-written, and well-structured. I learned a great deal from this book, and a number of them quite surprising.
March 14, 2022
Book #17 in 2022
5 stars
I went into this book with low expectations knowing nothing about the book or the author.
What I found was a well informed look at how spirituality affects the body & vice versa, all backed up with plenty of studies.
I found myself intrigued and very much edified.
5 stars means I liked the book enough to want to read it again.
5 stars
I went into this book with low expectations knowing nothing about the book or the author.
What I found was a well informed look at how spirituality affects the body & vice versa, all backed up with plenty of studies.
I found myself intrigued and very much edified.
5 stars means I liked the book enough to want to read it again.
March 24, 2023
Some fascinating facts from the book:
A study with MS patients found that “giving support improved health more than receiving it.” “Caring for others brought healing to the caregivers. Our nervous system is wired to find satisfaction and discover our own well-being by seeking the best for other people.”
“Though our present suffering may require patient endurance our hearts are filled with the passionate yearning for a time, when all that is broken shall be fixed.”
—-
“The love chemicals, dopamine and oxcitocin, not only contribute to positive feelings, but shut down the lover’s ability to think negatively.”
The studies show that the chemicals released during intimacy help strengthen the bond between husband and wife. When those chemicals are released during pornography viewing, the bond with one’s spouse is measurably diminished. A spouse will even find his or her partner less attractive.
“Shorter prayers in which we make requests to God—the kind many of us are most familiar with—go undetected by a brain scan. This doesn’t mean they don’t work or they are not valuable. But it may encourage you toward deeper, longer prayer when you learn that twelve minutes of attentive and focused prayer every day for eight weeks changes the brain significantly enough to be measured in a brain scan. Not only that, but it strengthens areas of the brain involved in social interaction, increasing our sense of compassion and making us more sensitive to other people. It also reduces stress, bringing another measurable physical effect—lower blood pressure. Prayer in this deeper, more attentive way also strengthens the part of the brain that helps us override our emotional and irrational urges. Prayer that seeks communion with God actually makes us more thoughtful and rational, enhances our sense of peace and well-being, and makes us more compassionate and responsive to the needs of other people.“
How we pray can change our physiology. 12 minutes of attentive and focused prayer every day for 8 weeks changes the brain as seen in a brain scan. It strengthens areas of the brain involved in social interaction increasing our sense of compassion and making us more sensitive to other people. It also reduces stress bringing another measurable physical affect—lower blood pressure.
We feel before we think. And we have to feel in order to think—according to research done on patients whose emotional part of the brain was damaged or removed. We have to get a sense of things.
We think with our feelings. And our feelings are nothing more than the state of our bodies, which is why they’re called feelings. Scientists call this embodied cognition.
Anger is not an idea but tense and poised muscles, quickened heartbeat and respiration…
A study with MS patients found that “giving support improved health more than receiving it.” “Caring for others brought healing to the caregivers. Our nervous system is wired to find satisfaction and discover our own well-being by seeking the best for other people.”
“Though our present suffering may require patient endurance our hearts are filled with the passionate yearning for a time, when all that is broken shall be fixed.”
—-
“The love chemicals, dopamine and oxcitocin, not only contribute to positive feelings, but shut down the lover’s ability to think negatively.”
The studies show that the chemicals released during intimacy help strengthen the bond between husband and wife. When those chemicals are released during pornography viewing, the bond with one’s spouse is measurably diminished. A spouse will even find his or her partner less attractive.
“Shorter prayers in which we make requests to God—the kind many of us are most familiar with—go undetected by a brain scan. This doesn’t mean they don’t work or they are not valuable. But it may encourage you toward deeper, longer prayer when you learn that twelve minutes of attentive and focused prayer every day for eight weeks changes the brain significantly enough to be measured in a brain scan. Not only that, but it strengthens areas of the brain involved in social interaction, increasing our sense of compassion and making us more sensitive to other people. It also reduces stress, bringing another measurable physical effect—lower blood pressure. Prayer in this deeper, more attentive way also strengthens the part of the brain that helps us override our emotional and irrational urges. Prayer that seeks communion with God actually makes us more thoughtful and rational, enhances our sense of peace and well-being, and makes us more compassionate and responsive to the needs of other people.“
How we pray can change our physiology. 12 minutes of attentive and focused prayer every day for 8 weeks changes the brain as seen in a brain scan. It strengthens areas of the brain involved in social interaction increasing our sense of compassion and making us more sensitive to other people. It also reduces stress bringing another measurable physical affect—lower blood pressure.
We feel before we think. And we have to feel in order to think—according to research done on patients whose emotional part of the brain was damaged or removed. We have to get a sense of things.
We think with our feelings. And our feelings are nothing more than the state of our bodies, which is why they’re called feelings. Scientists call this embodied cognition.
Anger is not an idea but tense and poised muscles, quickened heartbeat and respiration…
March 18, 2018
Moll's book is a thoughtful presentation of how our body is part of who we are as humans. Many times, we might think of how our minds impact our body; he presents scientific research that presents the opposite causation as well.
November 1, 2017
As someone who loves digging into God's word and is obsessed about neuroscience I LOVED this book! So cool to see how God designed our bodies to connect, serve, and thrive.
May 11, 2019
I found this book so enlightening and encouraging. Such a great co-mingling of faith and science.
November 12, 2023
This was a book written by my cousin. Here is everything I learned…
1. God lives within us (we are a temple)
2. Our mental and spiritual actions are what will get us to heaven
3. Union with God can form when external worship and internal worship work together
4. Serotonin affects our spiritual lives- a lack of serotonin (which can lead to depression) can cause a weaker and less active relationship with God
5. Spiritual practices improve physical and emotional health
6. Prayer that changes us needs full concentration
7. ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication)
8. We pick up on a persons emotional state by feeling it ourselves
9. Children who maintain their faith into adulthood were twice as likely to have a close relationship with an adult at church
10. Parents who cuddle their babies when they come home from the hospital are more likely to have a healthy relationship with their parents and are more likely to have higher IQ scores
11. We gain self awareness through those that we interact with
12. We can tell what another person thinks or feels by feeling it ourselves
13. We communicate our internal emotional state not only by the tone of our voice or the words we say but by the movements of the muscles in our face
14. 25 years of marriage— couples start to look more alike… mimicry used to understand each other has a lasting effect on the facial muscles— reports higher marital satisfaction
15. What the heart wants, the will chooses and the mind rationalizes
16. We all want to belong to and with someone else
17. It isn’t what you believe theologically that influences your behavior, it is who you are connected to
18. Touch leads to mild sedation, decrease in blood pressure, and aids in automatic regulation and cardiovascular health
19. A person with five friends has a different genetic makeup that a person with one friend
20. The size of our brain is perfectly predicted by the size of our social group. Living with a large group of people is a intellectually demanding task
21. The likelihood of your becoming a parent dramatically increases in the two years after one of your siblings has a baby
22. You gain happiness about 15 percent when your friend’s friend is happy
23. We need not enjoy our brokenness, but we must accept it
24. We all face the problem that we are not the people we wish ourselves to be
25. When we fail, it teaches us a modest measure of humility
26. To change our being, to make us spiritually sensitive beings, we need to take up the practices that make us the kinds of people who desire to live out a love for God and out neighbors
27. Chasing after our own pleasure can affect short term happiness but does not lead to long term joy and peace. As we connect to God we also tend to change how we understand ourselves, shifting from self centeredness toward the welfare of others
28. When a women sits down to pray and finds it impossible, that very effort, when repeated again and again, makes possible what was once impossible
29. Lack of religious involvement has an effect on morality that is equivalent to forty years of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day
30. The owners manual (the Bible) tells us how to live, believe, and treat others
31. Healthy and meaningful lives are built in cups of coffee with friends, helping a neighbor find a place to live, private prayer and worshiping with people we have grown to care for
32. Most fundamental guide for life— loving God and loving others
1. God lives within us (we are a temple)
2. Our mental and spiritual actions are what will get us to heaven
3. Union with God can form when external worship and internal worship work together
4. Serotonin affects our spiritual lives- a lack of serotonin (which can lead to depression) can cause a weaker and less active relationship with God
5. Spiritual practices improve physical and emotional health
6. Prayer that changes us needs full concentration
7. ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication)
8. We pick up on a persons emotional state by feeling it ourselves
9. Children who maintain their faith into adulthood were twice as likely to have a close relationship with an adult at church
10. Parents who cuddle their babies when they come home from the hospital are more likely to have a healthy relationship with their parents and are more likely to have higher IQ scores
11. We gain self awareness through those that we interact with
12. We can tell what another person thinks or feels by feeling it ourselves
13. We communicate our internal emotional state not only by the tone of our voice or the words we say but by the movements of the muscles in our face
14. 25 years of marriage— couples start to look more alike… mimicry used to understand each other has a lasting effect on the facial muscles— reports higher marital satisfaction
15. What the heart wants, the will chooses and the mind rationalizes
16. We all want to belong to and with someone else
17. It isn’t what you believe theologically that influences your behavior, it is who you are connected to
18. Touch leads to mild sedation, decrease in blood pressure, and aids in automatic regulation and cardiovascular health
19. A person with five friends has a different genetic makeup that a person with one friend
20. The size of our brain is perfectly predicted by the size of our social group. Living with a large group of people is a intellectually demanding task
21. The likelihood of your becoming a parent dramatically increases in the two years after one of your siblings has a baby
22. You gain happiness about 15 percent when your friend’s friend is happy
23. We need not enjoy our brokenness, but we must accept it
24. We all face the problem that we are not the people we wish ourselves to be
25. When we fail, it teaches us a modest measure of humility
26. To change our being, to make us spiritually sensitive beings, we need to take up the practices that make us the kinds of people who desire to live out a love for God and out neighbors
27. Chasing after our own pleasure can affect short term happiness but does not lead to long term joy and peace. As we connect to God we also tend to change how we understand ourselves, shifting from self centeredness toward the welfare of others
28. When a women sits down to pray and finds it impossible, that very effort, when repeated again and again, makes possible what was once impossible
29. Lack of religious involvement has an effect on morality that is equivalent to forty years of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day
30. The owners manual (the Bible) tells us how to live, believe, and treat others
31. Healthy and meaningful lives are built in cups of coffee with friends, helping a neighbor find a place to live, private prayer and worshiping with people we have grown to care for
32. Most fundamental guide for life— loving God and loving others
November 9, 2023
The other secular "scientific" books that I have read on the subject - of human religious belief being based upon the brain's natural tendencies - end the discussion there, with no thought of how the brain got to be and why it got to be the way that it is. This book by Rob Moll extends the etiology of religious belief back much further. As this book rightly points out, if there is a Creator God, it would be natural that he/she/they created humans to seek Him/Her/Them out. So, where a "scientism"-prejudiced thinker, who already has begun with the postulate that there is no/are no god(s) winds up with the reductionist tautology that the brain is the beginning and the end of the discussion, since there is no/are no god(s), a philosopher (even a philosopher of science) of would warn that the search has only begun, not ended. This book is very persuasive in showing that materialist, naturalist, and positivist reductionist conclusions do not conclude anything at all.
August 2, 2025
I read this book after reading The Body Keeps the Score, so I expected it to be similar in style and content. It wasn't. While not as clinical as TBKTS, I don't feel like this book went as deep either (which makes sense--it's a fraction of the size).
I'm also not sure the first part of the title is as accurate as the second, though it's possible that I'm just remembering more of what the book said about connecting and thriving than the connections between the body and God. One thing his book definitely does well is to make the connection between our overall health and our need for community and God.
I don't think I fully appreciated this book for what it is, because I've been sick while reading it, so I wasn't 100% focused. This is definitely a book I'll pick up again later so I can read it without expectations and with a clear head.
I'm also not sure the first part of the title is as accurate as the second, though it's possible that I'm just remembering more of what the book said about connecting and thriving than the connections between the body and God. One thing his book definitely does well is to make the connection between our overall health and our need for community and God.
I don't think I fully appreciated this book for what it is, because I've been sick while reading it, so I wasn't 100% focused. This is definitely a book I'll pick up again later so I can read it without expectations and with a clear head.
April 11, 2024
the things i have learned from this book have connected the Bible and theology to psychology. we don’t get that enough. how God created us, our brains, our bodies was for us to connect with Himself and others. i have found a way based on our biology and psychology to get rid of habits we hate doing and to start doing habits we have always wanted to do, to glorify God.
one quote that stuck with me:
“We all face the problem that we are not the people we wish ourselves to be, and we also confront the disappointment that we have trouble choosing the become different than who we are.”
highly recommend!!
one quote that stuck with me:
“We all face the problem that we are not the people we wish ourselves to be, and we also confront the disappointment that we have trouble choosing the become different than who we are.”
highly recommend!!
March 25, 2022
Easy read with lots of helpful info about how we were designed to connect and thrive. I think the subtitle of the book is more accurate in this way - I was expecting based on the title more about our physical bodies & how health versus disease manifests in the body. I also wish there was more Scripture to back up what he was saying. I walked away thinking this advice could be taken to apply to most religions / spiritual movements besides just Christianity.
November 8, 2024
Though the first few chapters struck me as basic, Moll quickly dives into the deeper aspects of our social brains. His commentary on the impact of our social networks, stating that even "Our friends' friends can change who we are," was thoughtful, whereas the chapter on more intimate connections could be fleshed out a bit more fully.
I found the section on the neuroscience of spiritual disciplines to be the book's most intriguing aspect and recommend reading it for that portion.
I found the section on the neuroscience of spiritual disciplines to be the book's most intriguing aspect and recommend reading it for that portion.
August 24, 2021
I'm glad I read this book, but at the same time was a bit underwhelmed. It has a lot of great information, is interesting, and I did loads of underlining but still, there was something I was looking for that I didn't get. I'm not sure what it is. I would probably give it a 3.5
April 5, 2022
Much of this is not surprising, but that he'd point to to Eastern Orthodox Liturgy as having what the human needs is one of the things that is surprising. It certainly is true, but it is not a truth I was expecting in this book and I thank the author for presenting this to the world.
April 8, 2024
It was like someone took a psychology 101 class and maybe the teacher had special interest in neuroscience so popped some tidbits of that into the class. The author took that and applied it to his basic understanding of mostly surface-level Christian theology.
Read
July 6, 2019Read most of this last year and finally finished it over the holiday. This happens to me more often with books on Kindle than physical books.
November 12, 2020
There’s an extraordinary amount of data to process when listening to this book. I found it fascinating. The book was written in 2014 (I think), but there’s quite a bit of the information in this book that applies to the situation we’re living through in 2020, especially that relates to socialization. I listened to this on Audible—Adam Verner’s narration is top notch. I’ll be purchasing a Kindle version and re-reading this book soon. Highly recommend!
January 29, 2021
Lots of interesting and sometimes mind-blowing information here. Just what I expected it to be. Great read.
October 19, 2021
Written from the perspective of a journalist compiling information and not an expert. Citing experts is good too, though
January 22, 2022
An interesting view. I will likely re-read, but I am not certain I agree with it all. I appreciate his approach.
March 20, 2022
I found this book incredibly interesting and really well written!
May 19, 2022
Audio
Really enjoyed. Combined science, trauma theory and embodiment, neuroscience, and theology in a really accessible way. Great narration too.
Really enjoyed. Combined science, trauma theory and embodiment, neuroscience, and theology in a really accessible way. Great narration too.
July 23, 2018
I loved this book. It combines my two favorite things: spirituality and neuroscience for a fascinating look at how a relationship with God changes your brain and body in unique ways. I will already use some of the principles I gleaned from this book, especially about meditative prayer, in counseling.
October 12, 2015
Rob Moll, is an award winning journalist who lived in the Seattle area. I found this book to be fascinating. If we truly believe that God is real and we are created in God's image. With careful research and cutting edge investigation he presents a very readable engaging book. The subtitle tells it all, we have definitely been designed to connect with God and each other with the need to serve and thrive.
The book is divided in three parts: spiritual bodies, spiritual growth and the difference it makes. Both the references he used to write the books and the praises he received from well known people add even more support for this thesis. I was enchanted by the scientific and medical research and found his style of writing to be appealing to any believer or nonbeliever. The cover is red and very catchy, it will be read by many people and quoted often. It isn't heavy on scripture but leaves no doubt to the author's deep belief in the possibilities of the most wonderful bodies and minds created by God, in his image.
The book is divided in three parts: spiritual bodies, spiritual growth and the difference it makes. Both the references he used to write the books and the praises he received from well known people add even more support for this thesis. I was enchanted by the scientific and medical research and found his style of writing to be appealing to any believer or nonbeliever. The cover is red and very catchy, it will be read by many people and quoted often. It isn't heavy on scripture but leaves no doubt to the author's deep belief in the possibilities of the most wonderful bodies and minds created by God, in his image.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews