Spirituality

PRAYER Prayer may be the oldest spiritual practice and the most popular one in America. Almost all world religions consider a form of it central to spiritual life. "All the religions are true," says George Lucas, who plays on religious themes such as good and evil in his blockbuster Star Wars series. "Religion is basically a container for faith. And faith is a very important part of what allows us to remain stable, remain balanced." The mental and emotional release, along with a sense of connection to a transcendent dimension, may be at the heart of prayer's effectiveness.

SPIRITUAL READING Every world religion has writings it considers sacred. To help narrow the search, consult Who Reads What?, an annual list of the favorite reads of celebrities, which is rich with suggestions. Football coach Mike Ditka says the Bible puts everything in perspective for him. For Muhammed Ali, the Qu'ran is the best "spiritual, guiding book." A less traditional text, Healing and the Mind by Bill Moyers (Dimensions, 1993) is a favorite of both talk-show host Leeza Gibbons and actress Carol Channing. Browse at your local bookstore or library until you find something that speaks to you.

TIME IN NATURE For Henry David Thoreau, who fled civilization to live on Walden Pond, nature was the temple of God and the perennial source of life. A powerfully spiritual moment--and one we have all experienced--is the instant we are confronted with earth's perfection and are filled with awe. The scientist Carl Sagan wrote about his time-in-nature experience: "The wind whips through the canyons of the American Southwest, and there is no one to hear it but us."

--David Elkins and Amanda Druckman

Kabbalah Kraze

Thousands of Jewish people left organized religion in the 1960s and 1970s. But within the last 10 years, Jewish mysticism, known as Kabbalah, has drawn many back into the fold. "I felt there was something spiritually lacking," says actress/comedian Sandra Bernhard of her Jewish upbringing. When she was in her 40s, Bernhard's Brazilian fitness trainer introduced her to the Los Angeles Kabbalah Center. Kabbalah, an increasingly popular Jewish mystical tradition that developed in the 13th century, "offers a spiritual basis for all Jewish practices and traditions," Bernhard explains. "There is no real understanding of why you're Jewish without it."

But the lure of this medieval philosophy has transcended Jewish interest. Madonna is just one of the many non-Jewish celebrities who say Kabbalah has transformed her life. "It's about realizing how small my life is in the big picture," she says, "but on the other hand, how big it is. Kabbalah is about wonderment." Compared to the Catholic theology she was raised with, Madonna believes that Kabbalah is more adaptable to modern life.

Interest is spreading. Sarah Stich, a 16-year-old high school student in Colorado, checked out Kabbalah after seeing Madonna discuss her new passion on VH1, the music video channel. Stich signed up for an adult class in the Jewish mystical tradition because she thought it might give her the spiritual tools she needed to make herself happy. Tens of thousands of others have had the same idea: More than 29 new Kabbalah meeting places have opened in the last year around the country.

"The new popularity of Kabbalah shows that people are searching for deeper meaning," says Dovid Brownstein, a Hasidic Jew who was raised on practical Kabbalistic wisdom. "And this is wonderful, as long as the `fad' aspect of it doesn't dilute the tradition's real meaning."

Faith Heals

Though dozens of studies have begun to examine religion's effects on our mental health, the subject has lacked sufficient funding for more in-depth research. Recently, however, The National Institute of Health Care Research, a nonprofit organization, began awarding grants up to $15,000 in support of academic projects exploring spirituality and psychiatry. Harvard University is one pioneer in the field of spirituality and mental health. Here is a sampling, according to some researchers, of what a dose of spirituality can do for you.

STRESS The Alameda County Study, which trails nearly 7,000 Californians, showed that West Coast worshippers who participate in church-sponsored activities are markedly less stressed over finances, health and other daily concerns than non-spiritual types (Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 1998).

BLOOD PRESSURE Elderly folks in a Duke University study who attended religious services, prayed or read the Bible regularly, had lower blood pressure than their nonpracticing peers (International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 1998).