Awe as Antidote
In a previous post, I mentioned an On Being podcast episode on “The Thrilling New Science of Awe” with UC Berkeley social psychologist Dacher Keltner, and I promised “will report back” about awe being an antidote to the blahs. (It is.)
The number of podcasts I will listen to more than once is modest, but Keltner’s beautifully meandering conversation with Krista Tippett is one of them. I’ve now listened twice and will likely return again for more inspiration. Why? Keltner touches something deep, a longing for what is pared down and simple in these heavily layered times.
I think of awe as a laser, piercing through all the illusory stuff that passes for “necessary” and “essential” and going straight to the heart, to the mind of the heart and the spirit of the heart. The blahs, as I’ve called them, manifest in my life as a sort of exhaustion with too many plates spinning. Awe is a jolt of a reminder that I don’t have to do it that way. I can find time to sit and just be in the midst of an ever-unfolding world, a self-renewing and revelatory universe that is expansive and pregnant with possibility. And awe is actually good for us, body and soul. (Keltner has done experiments! Waving Jazz Hands!)
One quality of awe is the element of surprise. In other words, you can’t really go looking for it, anymore than you can pinpoint where the next raindrop will fall in a rain shower. Instead, awe is more likely to blindside you, gobsmack you, sneak up alongside and holler “Wheeeeee!!!” and startle the bejeezus out of you, take your breath clean away. Or cause a welling of tears with a whisper in your ear, “Wouldja just look at that!”
You can’t conjure awe, but you can open yourself to it, prepare your mindset, relax your perspective-maker and start with something a bit like a prayer: “Okay, world. I’d love it if you’d surprise me with a wee gift today.”
It is not a waste of time to be still, to be open and observe, with no other agenda than to be open and observe. In fact, it is in those moments of openness that we become more permeable, when the world of which we are an intrinsic element interpenetrates. We become part of something larger, or more accurately we become aware that we are already part of something larger.
In the end, I think that’s what awe does. Shakes us out of whatever tunnel-vision we’ve succumbed to and drags us into the light of day, saying, “Here is the world! Here is you, in the middle of it! Enjoy!”
To hear Keltner’s most surprising discovery about awe, you’ll have to listen to the podcast. No spoilers here.
Happy Thursday, everyone. I’m wishing nice surprises for you all in the days ahead, moments of “Ahhhh….” that are all about awe.
Great listen.