Some days it feels like the end times. Yesterday, ShanghaiChina's leading financial centre. Ironically, its citizens have been reduced to bartering for food., went back into lockdown. War in Ukraine joins conflicts in the Middle East and central AfricaCivil war has been raging in the Central African Republic since 2012.. Famine threatens the developing world as wheat supply chainsMuch of the Middle East and North Africa import wheat from Ukraine and Russia. While there is currently plenty of wheat on the global market, there are fears that switching supply chains could cause serious shortages in the coming months. break down. Devastating floods in Australia remind us that the climate crisis is underway.

All of this might seem like an unprecedented challenge. But humanity has been here before. We have withstood natural disasters, bloodshed and social collapse.

Each time we emerge, something curious happens: people turn to spiritual wisdom.

When the Black DeathA bacterial infection that killed as much as 60% of the population of Europe and 33% of the Middle Eastern population. struck Europe, many people believed it was a judgement from God. Some people, called flagellants, thought they could earn divine mercy by beating themselves.

Man-made disasters have also sparked spiritual movements. Almost every family in Britain lost members to World War One, and in the 1920s many turned to occult practices to help with grief. More and more people attended seances, hoping to have one last chance to communicate with their fallen relatives.

Sometimes spirituality emerges as a response to oppression. In the 1890s, many Native American peoples began to perform the Ghost Dance, a ceremony that would allow the spirits of the dead to return and end the expansion of the USAIn the first half of the 19th Century the USA expanded further and further west. As it did so it removed Native Americans from the territories it was claiming. In some places, like California, it committed genocide against the local populations. into their lands.

When we experience death, it forces us to think about life. We might turn to spiritualism as a way of reassuring ourselves that there is life after death.

That is why some think our current trials might spark a new era of spirituality. They suggest we will turn to the divine to make sense of our troubles.

Although we tend to think we live in a secular age, 84% of the world identifies with a religious group.

Still others argue science might take the place of spirituality. Popular scientists like Richard DawkinsA British scientist who is associated with New Atheism, a position that is critical of religious belief. and Steven Pinker present scientific arguments as a matter of fact. Some see them as the High Priests of a new religion of rationalism that tells its disciples all their problems can be solved with science.

Yes: People have always turned to spiritual wisdom in times of hardship and uncertainty. We can already see it happening with the growth of religions and ideas like astrology.

No: In the past, religion was the natural framework for people to reach for when they had to make sense of death and suffering. Today religion is less important in our lives. We are more likely to seek solace in technology.

Or... Technology could be its own form of spiritualism. There is a reason we refer to "tech gurus". We already treat those who invent cutting-edge technology like modern prophets.