Imagine ... Awe
- Summer
- May 6
- 3 min read
Along Highway 1, just south of San Francisco, you can find the town of Pacifica, my home for many years, where we enjoyed a wonderful community and closeness to the Pacific Ocean. What enthralled me more than anything about living there, though, was the infinite expanse of water welcoming me back time and time again. In astonishment at its sparkling blue vastness, my heart would expand and my breath would catch for a moment. I would simultaneously feel very present and be aware of my infinitesimally small self. Joy and humility wrapped into one at the immensity and obscurity of this ocean.
When deep in meditation, I also occasionally receive a glimpse of this sensation: connecting with something far bigger than myself and feeling linked to a deeper mystery. Maybe this resonates with you, or maybe you recognize this feeling while:
looking up at the stars and contemplating the infinite universe,
listening to exceptional music,
standing by a roaring waterfall,
hearing the unbounded laughter of a little baby, or
simply contemplating the intricacies of a flower.
For an instant, you might feel overwhelmed by something grander than yourself. Taking a moment, reflecting on how you can get your glimpse into the incomparable vastness and mystery of life. Encounters like this can feel somewhat unsettling because they simultaneously reminds us of the fragility and the finite nature of our own life. What we feel in these moments is Awe!
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt* collaborated with cognitive scientist and founding director of the Greater Good Science Center, Dacher Keltner, in trying to understand this sense of awe that human beings can experience. They formulated their own definition: “Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.” Keltner continued the work and in his book Awe he lays out how various studies have shown that experiencing awe can discourage rumination and quiet our critical voice. Furthermore, feelings of awe can promote greater attention to detail, which in turn boosts memory retention and creative thinking. Not only are there benefits to ourselves as individuals, moments like these also have ripple effects into the wider world: awe encourages greater connection to others and enhances the likelihood to show generosity. This contributes to stress reduction and an enhanced impetus to collaborate, and as such a greater sense of happiness and health.**
When we aspire to live mindfully, practicing nonjudgmental awareness with curiosity and compassion, daily opportunities to tap into this sense of awe will show up more and more. The holiday season might be an especially meaningful time to develop this beautiful practice. We encourage you to be perceptive to or even actively seek out those moments of awe, moments that can be rooted in connecting with nature, or art, or seeing astonishing skills displayed, yet equally recognizable in more mundane moments of beauty and wonder. Awe broadens our perspective, letting us see the world anew.
Summer Meyer and the Imagine Team
* I highly recommend his book “The Righteous Mind” for insight into how our emotions and our rational mind work together and how we can apply this to bridging the political divide our country - and the world - is experiencing. If you are interested in this kind of work, also check out Braver Angels.
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