Josh Richardson

People who embrace a sense of unity and oneness—the idea that everything in the world is connected and interdependent—appear to have greater life satisfaction than those who don’t, regardless of whether they belong to a religion, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

“The feeling of being at one with a divine principle, life, the world, other people or even activities has been discussed in various religious traditions but also in a wide variety of scientific research from different disciplines,” said Laura Marie Edinger-Schons, PhD, of the University of Mannheim, author of the study.