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The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love was founded in June of 2001 with a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation. Sir John was kind enough to allow the Institute to borrow its name from his book entitled Pure Unlimited Love: An Eternal Creative Force and Blessing Taught by All Religions (2000). Throughout his life Sir John has urged all religions to think of God primarily in terms of Unlimited Love for all persons without exception, and he has proposed a “humility theology” in which we recognize how very little we really do know about spiritual realities. Deeply concerned with the ways in which human arrogance and group egoism can lead to religious violence, Sir John has proposed that we draw on the best methods of science to gradually help us gain insights into the great perennial questions that animate spiritual and religious belief and practice. Often, Sir John has suggested that progress will come from learning as much as we possibly can about such things as gratitude, joy, purpose, optimism, forgiveness, creativity, awe, unselfish giving, altruism and love. And in particular, he has asked us to study deeply about love as the Ultimate Reality of all existence and of all human goodness.
I had the honor of meeting Sir John in 1993. We had a two-hour conversation about agape love in the lobby of a hotel in Virginia. I immediately sensed his deep commitment to learning more about the nature and power of love as the fundamental dynamic not just in human life and experience, but in all of material and spiritual reality. This is a topic about which I have been primarily interested since youth, from a Sixth Form research project at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire on agape love in the thought of the great African-American theologians such as Howard Thurman. For 40 years a focus on Unlimited Love has guided me, both in scientific research and in ethical and theological publications. This spans my years at the University of Chicago as a doctoral student writing a dissertation on the reconciliation of agape love and the happiness of those who do “unto others” to two decades in the medical school of Case Western Reserve University studying the transformative power of compassionate love in the lives of healers and patients.
The Institute has, with little effort, captured attention across the United States and Canada because of its focus on love. Not any kind of love, mind you, but love to others without exception and extended without expectation of personal gain – the kind of love enshrined in the golden rule and encouraged by the world’s great moral and spiritual traditions, East and West.
It may seem odd that, in a time when rage, fragmentation and violence are so visible in our world, we should come together around such a hopeful topic. Yet we have no choice but to make progress in our understanding and practice of a love that acknowledges for all humanity the absolutely full significance that we otherwise acknowledge only for ourselves, or for those most like us.
Immense and complex questions resonate with all of us: How can we learn to love our neighbor even when he or she can give nothing in return, or is not a member of our group? Do benevolent people experience higher levels of psychological well-being? Are they healthier? Do they live longer? How can love be made more lasting in marriage and family life? How can we raise caring children? What can we learn from the lives of truly generous individuals? Where does spirituality fit in? What is the link between love and justice? Is it true that in the giving of self lies the unsought for discovery of self? Is unselfish love the deeper and most fulfilling ground of human nature? Is it even the “ground of being,” as mystical traditions have suggested?
Approach: The Institute provides competitive awards for high-level scientific research; for course development in colleges, universities and secondary schools; and for essay and book publication. It convenes conferences that bring together exemplary practitioners of unselfish love, scientists, scholars, and educators to dialogue on the prospects for a better human future.
Research: Visionary research does alter the human future. Many of the major improvements in the human condition emerged from paradigm-shifting research. Once no one believed that polio could be prevented, but a small group of researchers went on to change human history. In a time when group conflict, rudeness, selfishness, and hatred are so evident in the world, and when the technologies of destruction are so vast, we owe it to the human future to bring the best methods of science to the study of that which is most good. It is urgent that we learn how to enhance the human potential for a love that affords for all humanity the full moral and spiritual significance that we otherwise acknowledge only for ourselves, or for those most like us.
With support from the Templeton Foundation, the Institute has funded nearly 70 scientific research projects at universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Emory, and Case Western Reserve University. The questions being addressed are important to us all. How, for example, can we raise children who shape their lives around unselfish love and the service of humanity? How can we develop cultural and educational environments that foster such behavior? Is it true that kind and benevolent people generally experience higher levels of well-being, happiness, and health? How can love be made more lasting in marriage and family life? How do individuals whose loved ones have been killed or maimed manage not to succumb to hatred? Where do love and justice converge? Is unselfish love - understood evolutionarily, developmentally, and spiritually - the deeper and most fulfilling ground of human nature? How do catastrophies like 9/11 or the tsunami wave elicit such compassionate responses? Can we better understand rescuers who put their lives on the line for perfect strangers? Is love the “Ground of Being” that philosophers and mystics speak of perennially? What can we learn about the human spiritual perception of Unlimited Love that seems to enliven and quicken our benevolent emotions?
New Research Programs: The Institute has recently moved forward with new research initiatives. First, the Institute is co-sponsoring a major five-year project with the Center for Law and Religion at Emory University School of Law. This project brings together leading researchers in the social sciences, humanities, ethics, and religion to consider the deeper meanings of happiness and their bearing on how we pursue happiness in the modern world. Second, the Institute is supporting two new research projects on religious tolerance and the Golden Rule under the direction of Dr. Jacob Neusner through the Bard College Institute for Advanced Theology. Third, the Institute is supporting a project under the direction of Dr. Maria Pagano that examines the health impact of helping others in self-help movements. In addition, several research projects continue to assess the impact of helping behavior on the mental and physical health of adolescents. Fourth, the Institute is co-sponsoring the new Flame of Love Project with Margaret Poloma and Matthew Lee of the University Akron (see www.GodlyLoveProject.org). This project focuses in on the perceptions and experiences of Unlimited Love, and includes a national poll that for the first time will clarify the pervasiveness of such experiences across American society.
Education: In 2004 an international course competition for college and university professors attracted many applicants, from which 11 course awards were distributed. More than 20 of the science and theology faculty teaching these courses gathered at the Claremont School of Theology in April of 2005 to begin preparation of a text book to be used in future courses around the world. In addition, course awards have been made to secondary schools across the United States to support curricula on science and religion focused on the capacity of benevolent love. Many of these courses are now offered yearly. We are not currently funding additional courses.
Signs of Success: Recognized internationally, the Institute’s achievements gained coverage in nearly 600 newspapers and magazines. These include the New York Times, Psychology Today, “O” Magazine, ABC 20/20, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Utne Reader. The Institute has been featured on more than 80 radio talk shows, including the NPR Christmas Eve Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition, and the Dennis Prager Show. It was selected for a week of lectures at the Chautauqua Institution (August 22-26, 2005) on topic of unselfish love, spirituality and the brain, and will return in August of 2007. An estimated 700 people from 33 countries attended our conference entitled Works of Love: Scientific and Religious Perspectives on Altruism in 2003, and similar numbers are expected for a conference in June of 2007.
Two Important New Books: Researchers funded by the Institute are featured in a wonderful new trade book that we hope all of you will pick up, entitled Why Good Things Happen to Good People: How to Live a Longer, healthier, Happier Life by the Simple Act of Giving. This book is based on a lifetime of research and philosophy by Dr. Post, and is written in collaboration with popular science journalist Jill Neimark (Broadway Books, a Division of Random House. Inc.). The Foreword to this book is written by the renowned African-American pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, Jr. (www.whygoodthingshappen.com). A collection of strictly technical scientific papers by researchers themselves are collected in Altruism and Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research (Oxford University Press, June 2007), edited by Dr. Post. This may be useful for the professional reader who thirsts for more after enjoying Why Good Things Happen. The theme of these works is the focus of a wonderful new ad campaign by the Templeton Foundation, including placements in the Atlantic Monthly, the Economist, the New Republic, the New Yorker, and the New York Review of Books. Dr. Post has recently addressed audiences at Harvard, Duke, the University of Michigan, and the Crystal Cathedral. For those interested in having Dr. Post present for their university or organization, he is represented by the BrightSight Group (www.brightsightgroup.com).
The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love filed for formation as a public benefit corporation under the laws of the state of Ohio in June of 2001. It is a freestanding 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Gratefully,
Stephen G. Post, Ph.D., President
Institute for Research on Unlimited Love
PO Box 1516
Stony Brook, NY 11790
post@stephengpost.com
“You are leading one of the most significant initiatives of this generation. The connection between research and application cannot be over-emphasized. Thank you!”
— Pastor Otis Moss, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Morehouse College
“Stephen Post has contributed more than anyone else to the dialogue concerning the scientific and health implications of altruistic and generous behavior. His leadership has spearheaded an exciting new area of research. The field has the strong potential to change people’s lives in a healthy way.”
— Gregory L. Fricchione, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School,
and Associate Chief of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
“Isn’t is wonderful to do science on a topic that is socially relevant and can make a difference in the world?”
— Professor Paul Wink, Department of Psychology, Wellesley College
Click here to read about Recently Funded Projects
In an effort to further enhance the rapidly growing network of researchers focusing on topics such as altruism, altruistic love, kindness, compassion, and "unlimited" love, the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love has established "Works of Love", a high-quality electronic newsletter. The newsletter is written by Stephen G. Post, President of the Institute, and sent monthly.
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