Spirituality, science, and humanity, though seemingly worlds apart, together hold the key to a problem shared by the whole human community, i.e. stress. Stress is a response to a situation which is perceived difficult or threatening. The situation can be anything from work related stress, related to your personal life, or simply because of the environment you are living in. Stress is controlled by your central nervous system. A hormone called ‘cortisol’, commonly known as the stress hormone, can kill you if found in excessive amounts in your body. Stress, anxiety, and depression are closely related to each other, where one can easily lead to another.
Rebecca Shansky of Northeastern University, studies how our neurons react to trauma and stress. She observed that neurons undergo a structural change while experiencing stress which could cause them to lose connectivity to each other, resulting in muddled communication and leading to confused thoughts. All this happens in the brain’s prefrontal cortex which is responsible for higher cognitive functions, personality, social behaviour, or emotional memory.
Spirituality and connecting with other human beings is one of the most effective ways to overcome stress and trauma. Connecting with our fellow human beings gives us a sense of humanity and belongingness. It gives us a sense of self which is an important feeling to any living creature. We are defined by as much of our qualities as we are by other people. You matter because other people acknowledge your existence and accept you. “The self emerges from the other”, the concept behind ‘Botho’, an African philosophy.
“A person is a person through other persons. None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human.” (Tutu, 2004:25).
We need to strengthen the sense of our interdependence and interconnection to find empathy towards each other. As a community, when we connect and support each other, we create an environment which is accommodating for everyone and help us bond with each other and let us depend on each other to create peace, both internal and external.
Anushka Singh