Are some people more spiritual than others? Some psychologists seem to think so. They have been busy constructing various psychological tests of spirituality. By implication, people who show the traits measured by these tests are more spiritual than those who do not embrace such traits.
What makes somebody score high on a psychological test of spirituality? Usually high scores result from endorsement of a specific set of values thought to indicate spirituality. These values might include, for example, altruism, unity, charity, inner peace, generosity, and purpose in life. In contrast, people who value individuality, solitude, competition, materialism, and expedience tend to test out as not particularly spiritual.
I became interested in personality and spirituality inadvertently. I had set out to the study what motivates people and found 16 fundamental motives of life, everything from biological drives such as eating to psychological motives such as social contact and power. Virtually every significant goal people wanted from life seemed reducible to combinations of the 16 fundamental life motives. Everybody embraces these motives, but individuals value or prioritize them differently. An individual's valuation of the 16 life motives, called a Reiss Motivation Profile, predicts the person's values, personality traits, and behavior in such diverse natural environments as athletic field, classroom, and business. Since very little in psychology predicts significant behavior in natural environments, the anecdotal and scientific evidence of the predictive powers of the 16 life motives is encouraging.
Soon after I published my book, Who am I? The 16 Basic Desires that Motivate our Actions and Define our Personalities (Tarcher/Putnam, 2000), I was attacked by some religious leaders for leaving out God. My critics observed that God is the greatest of all motives for millions of religious people. How could I leave out such an important motivator of human experience and behavior?
Since my research questionnaires did not ask people about religion, I was astonished to discover that the 16 life motives were the dimensions along which Christians and Jews perceived God. I identified a life motive for Acceptance, and Christians believe in Christ as Savior. I identified life motives for power, curiosity, and order, and humans perceive God as almighty, omniscient, and permanent. Human beings do not experience God through a spiritual dimension of personality, I now thought, but through all 16 fundamental human life motives or needs.
Next I studied life motivation and religiosity. I learned that idealism (the desire to make the world a better place) was the primary motive driving young people to join the protestant clergy, but honor (loyalty to the moral values of the clan) was the primary motive driving the congregation to attend church. When Jews embraces Judaism, or Catholics embraces Catholicism, they experience loyalty to their parents, clan, and ethnic group. I summarized my views in a paper on "The 16 Strivings for God" published in the theology-science journal Zygon.
Spirituality is not a personality trait. Religion is not the seventeenth basic striving, as my critics had once suggested. If I had recognized spirituality as a seventeenth striving, I would have implied that a person's spirituality is separate and distinct from the rest of his/her life. As my theory stands today with no striving for spirituality, I imply that human beings have 16 basic strivings or needs, and they are free to gratify all, some or none of those needs through religious or spiritual activities, versus all, some, or none of needs through secular activities. God has given human beings 16significant needs and left us free to choose religious or secular lifestyles to gratify those needs. Religion is a way of life, not just another need or personality trait.
