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WE NEED TO FEEL AWE NOT AWESOME EXPERIENCES

A Jerusalem Post Column
Dec 31, 2010
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Many people are awestruck in the presence of celebrities. These celebrities are usually movie stars or sports heroes, with great talent, looks or skill. It is an admiration for a status or ability that is exceptional.

Often people, go out of the way to seek contact with such celebrities: asking for autographs and trying to touch and shake hands with them. It is as if the important social status of the celebrity can be transferred through contact

But this sense of awe is really an exaggerated and often fleeting sense of admiration. It has led to the overused word awesome to describe an exciting or thrilling experience.

The psychologist Dacher Keltner explained that the true emotion of authentic awe has two distinct qualities: that of perceived vastness and of accommodation.

Authentic awe happens when a person perceives something that is vast and something he cannot accommodate. Not being able to accommodate means that it is beyond one's ability to comprehend. It elicits fear, reverence or elevation. The experience makes a person stop in their "cognitive tracks" and feel small and powerless.

This authentic awe gives us a sense of wonder and realization that something much larger and more powerful than we are is "out there". Wonder alone is considered an emotion that people feel when perceiving something unexpected or rare. Authentic awe is wonder with the added experience of reverence

One of the most awe inspiring experiences ever reported was the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mt Sinai. The Bible describes the scene with powerful language and the experience resonates for us thousands of years later.

The dawn of the third day broke amid thunder and lightning that filled the air. Heavy clouds hung over the mountain and the steadily growing sounds of the Shofar made the people shake and tremble with fear. Moses led the children of Israel out of the camp and placed them at the foot of Mount Sinai, which was all covered by smoke and was quaking, for G-d had descended upon it in fire. The sound of the Shofar grew louder, but suddenly all sounds ceased, and an absolute silence ensued; and then G-d proclaimed the Ten Commandments . (Exodus chapter 20)

Keltner also explains that in the past, the experience of awe was often socially associated with respect to a person in a position of power. Society was hierarchical and people were more inclined to subordinate their own interests and goals to those of a powerful leader. In such societies awe toward a leader reinforces commitment to the social hierarchies and different power status.

An example of this form of awe was exhibited by a commoner, in the presence of a king for the first time. The experience of the commoner involves a sense of being overwhelmed, because royalty falls outside their daily experience and knowledge. It was also accompanied with a sense of reverence as the king had a power over the lives of the individual commoner.

But our modern western world is governed by egalitarian values. Most people in the Western world do not seek to idolize and revere any one individual and bestow them unlimited power over their lives.

Perhaps the most common experience of awe for contemporary egalitarian societies is the response to phenomenon in nature. We feel awe in response to large natural phenomenon such as mountains, vistas, storms and oceans.

Yet with the advent of science and technology we are becoming immune to the awe inspiring potential of nature. Three hundred years ago, a young boy may have asked his father why does an apple fall from the tree and his father would have answered that it did so because God wanted it to fall. Today that father would say it is due to gravity.

The great philosopher Abraham Heshchel lamented that modern man falls into a trap of losing a sense of wonder because he believes science can explain all natural phenomenon. That makes the wonder with nature into nothing more than a reflection of one's ignorance.

"Indifference to the sublime wonder of living is the root of disenchantment with God " Heshchel

Keltner explains that nature inspired awe involves a diminished self, and the sense of being in the presence of a higher power. Natural beauty is vast in relation to the self, and can transcend one's degree of understanding.

To allow ourselves to be open to this experience of awe in nature we need to leave our man made home environment. We must leave the safety of our city and our home and expose ourselves to the vastness and overwhelming experience of nature.

Whether ocean, mountain, forest or jungle it can inspire awe in us. To have been at the base of a rocky cliff with the breaking of huge waves, the thundering roar of massive waterfall or the vastness of a high mountain top can be awe inspiring.

Why is awe important?

Our experience of the vastness and incomprehensibility of a powerful natural event makes us feel small and insignificant. It helps to develop our sense of humility.

At the same time we revere the power behind it. Peter Berger, a famous sociologist of religion, has said that our connection to God is due to such experiences of awe. It reinforces our need to believe in a grand power that rules over a sense of order in our universe. In fact, some powerful experiences of awe can change one's life in profound and permanent ways.

By connecting with the divine presence during such experiences we are both recognizing our human limitations as well as developing a sense of security because we are connecting with that divine power.

As Martin Seligman wrote: "meaningful happiness comes from connecting with something greater than the self." There is nothing greater than connecting with God.

This is ability of nature to inspire such a connection is evident in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson after his walk in the forest: "in the woods we return to faith. There I feel …my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted to infinite space - all mean of egotism vanishes...I become part and parcel of God".

Dr Mann is a Clinical Psychologist and Certified Life Coach, who helps young adult males, adults in transition, and business executives achieve positive goals. He has offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. [email protected]
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