AWE

Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

We left our chat last week to the big subject of hope. Definitely it was not Rubik’s cube. Just clearing the space out….in case you were wandering.

Fun fact and truth of the matter is that Rubik’s cube brought so much awe aka magic in my life. It made me feel so proud of myself for a whole summer as I was so good at it. At least within my local community and if I remember well I could master it in about 2min. And I am talking about a pre-internet era. Being good at it also meant hours of sitting together with my teacher, a kid in our neighbourhood and pretty much mastering the art of becoming better than him or simply the thrill of the game really. It is again, one of the memories that stay with me. I loved the process, the focus, the commitment. The thrill. The little victories of getting it. And to honour that memory I did purchase one recently and I did try to download the app, follow some gamers on the youtube …this time,sorry to say, could not remember or retrieve the mastery of it. I simply did not have that patience anymore. And ….just accepted myself to keep the nostalgia only.

I chose to talk about AWE today. As this is ,like HOPE ,part of my anchoring into life.This is my GPS, my navigation compass, so many names I can think of in just measuring how much I rely on AWE and revert to it as a real tool.

I would also introduce you here a great book by Dacher Keltner, called precisely that: AWE. “The new science of everyday wonder and how it can transform your life. “

And I would dive a bit more into it. Let’s consider it a teaser for all of you to be tempted to find the book and fall in love with it.

Awe, Dacher Keltner

The author quotes many writers, philosophers and brings to like many stories of wonderful souls all throughout the book enriching it minute by minute.

The study and researches on this particular topic reiterates and establishes a far more deeper connection between us and brings constantly the unity and universality of all of us to the table. We just now have to also lean in and listen. Or maybe open our eyes a bit more for just a second and fall into wonder.

The opening page of the book itself being:

From wonder to wonder, existence opens. Lao Tzu

There are 4 beautifully curated sections of the book:

A science of Awe

Stories of Transformative Awe

Cultural Archives of Awe

Living a life of Awe

These will also let you grasp a bit more on the content of the book.

The reason I connect to this book or a story in general it might have in general all these elements at the end….. definitely the transformative element, layers of context and integration of cultural or ancient mysteries, takeaways for the daily lives and what I could carry on for years to follow to reinvent myself. Science back up it is important yet this might not always be my obsession. I can be convinced by a transformative story without having the explanation to the dot or a body of research to support its evidence of impact. I do bow my hat though if science also follows and gets flexible into these explorations.

I would let Mr. Keltner introduce himself directly to you:

I have taught happiness to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. It is not obvious why I ended up doing this work: I have been a pretty wound-up, anxious person for significant chunks of my life and was thrown out of my first meditation class(for laughing while we chanted “I am a being of purple fire”). Life can surprise us, though, in giving us the work we are here to do. So nearly every day in classrooms of different kinds […..], I’ve taught people about finding the good life”

How can we live the good life?One enlivened by joy and community and meaning,that brings us a sense of worth and belonging ,and strengthens the people and natural environments around us?

Now twenty years into teaching happiness,I have an answer:

FIND AWE

FIND AWE. This might be a chant I took it to the heart for so long already. Isn’t it that spark that lives with us and brings our innocence back?

Just for today, I will choose to simply hum it over and over to myself. And laugh also if I wish………speaking of meditations sometimes…..and their effect. I have also been there.

The introduction to the book itself is so clearly laid out speaking truly to the mysteries of our life and how accessible it is in fact to find awe anywhere. Research shows that it only a couple of minutes everyday.

Awe is the emotion we experience when we encounter the mysteries that we don’t understand.

Brief moments of awe are as good for your mind and body as anything you might do.

One of the key question that he asked people while listening to their stories was

“What is an experience of awe that you have had ,when you encountered a vast mystery that transcends your understanding of the world”

As per his suggestion in introduction, let’s take a brief moment here and think of an awe story of our own.

1,2,3……..Pause………Recollect. Reconnect. Fill up your heart. Dream. Sometimes the answers are right there in front of you.We do not even need to go back in time.

Here is my moment of joy this week was a new born baby joining our family. The joy, the emotions still flowing, the moment I received the news, the tears and all about it is so strong into my heart…and the days that follow and follow filling up my heart to the brim. So much expansion and gladness of it is. The oxytocin burst is real.

I hear you. I do recognise this is an event of a grander level. This is also raw for me these days and I suppose nothing beats it.

Thinking of it yesterday though, going through my Saturday…. I also leaned into full rest. Rest of the mind, rest of the body, rest of my heart, engaging with every moment almost separately and yet fully at the same time.

I keep walking up always early as eager as I can be to read more and study more nowadays and while my “to finish” list was a bit overwhelming to start the day with, I let all of it go. With the first coffee of the day, I allowed myself to rest fully, contemplating the sunrise, the quiet and peace of my room, feeling cozy and welcoming in the weekend to restore, to recover, to stock back on my resources.

(Coffee, book, sunny bay, water - this is not “nature morte” (still life) more like “etre en admiration” - yes….of course, is more like “ Awe life” )

I bow everyday to the mix up of circumstances, my friends and all that mysteries of life bringing me to live in this home. I never cease to say Thank you! Also to myself for taking sound decisions once in a while. I do pet myself on the shoulder for this one too.

Lovely and delightful. One more sip of a coffee and back to reading from Mr. Keltner.

Eight wonders of life

Emotions are like stories.They are drama that structure our day, like scenes in a novel, movie ,or play. Emotions unfold in actions between people, enabling us, for example, to comfort someone in need ,show devotion to a loved one, redress injustice, or belong to a community. Having defined awe, our answer to the question “What is awe” needs next to move to people’s own stories of the emotion”

We moved on what the author calls” the taxonomy of awe” and the classification of eight wonders of life all gathered from 2600 narratives.

Simply put - “What most commonly leads people to feel awe? “

Summary again:

1. The moral beauty - “other people’s courage , kindness ,strength ,or overcoming […]. Exceptional virtue ,character and ability - moral beauty - operate according to a different aesthetic, one marked by a purity and goodness of intention and action, and moves us to awe. “

2. Collective effervescence - “Accross the twenty-six cultures, people told stories of collective effervescence at weddings, christenings, quinceaneras, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations, sports celebrations, funerals, family reunions, and political rallies …”

3. Nature - to no surprise was elected as the third wonder. “Common to experiences of natural awe is the sense that plants and animals are conscious and aware ,an idea found indigenous traditions and attracting scientific attention today. “. I have no doubt we all connect and can easily retrieve a memory of awe in nature or connections to animals and all ….. Pure, pure magic, once again …just in front of us.

4. Music - oh! Have really no words to express its impact on my life and as Mr. Keltner says it so well “Transporting people to new dimensions of symbolic meaning”

5. Visual design - “the awe we feel in relation to design allows us to locate ourselves within cultural systems that we may be part of it.

   The first that comes to me on the spot right here is La Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona and all that I could see built by Gaudi in my only trip to Spain ages ago. I must have felt I was there in his time and felt deeply moved by the intrinsic work and the mind blown by the level of detail. The feminine lines and round elements. The natural parks, the colours of other works. It is a cherished memory for me exactly because of the emotions felt there and deep deed connection I have felt for everything. It was still under construction and some areas were limited for access.

   And somehow linked to it I felt a deep connection to Cappadocia in Central Anatolia, Turkey. A fairy tale. Hard to even express how these sites moved me and bringing them fresh into the spotlight here just gives me goosebumps and red cheeks. A warmth of emotions surges over my entire body.

6. Stories of spiritual and religions awe were a sixth wonder of life. “Those weren’t as common as you might imagine,given our perenial search of nirvana, satori, bliss, or samadhi .[…..] We shall see how often the sensations that arise during mystical awe ,and all encounters with the wonders of life, involve touch, feeling embraced ,a warm presence, and and awareness of being seen- clues,perhaps, to the deep origin of emotion”.

I will take one more moment to breathe in and out deeply here.

This one took me right away to some of the dreams where I was sent messages or gave me insights into a matter I did not even know about. I used to keep a good journal with my dreams and now feeling a bit behind of the entire process. It could be mesmerising to go back in time read your dreams. Such a fascinating world. At times frightening. At times maybe reflecting my own anxiety. And yet, sometimes a clear image of what is to come. A connection with someone’s else’ world. As it happens I also receive some messages through some of my close friends or family. I have still vocal messages of friends telling me their dream about me. That also sometimes came to life- good or bad messengers , had both experiences.

7. Stories of life and death . I guess relates to the awe I am feeling with a new born’s energy . Keltner says these are very common stories and he adds like this “ We are awestruck by how, in an instant , life comes out of the womb. And of the other end of the life -death cycle, when a person makes the transition from being a breathing physical being to some other form of existence .”

We all witnessed both. I leave you all with your memories in silence.

8. Epiphanies -when we suddenly understand essential truths about life.

   “In each instance, the epiphany united facts, beliefs, values, intuitions, and images into a new system of understanding” . I love this so much- “a new system of understanding” …..it changes so much and clears out sometimes so much in our story.

If you are offended that your favourite form of the sublime did not make this periodic table of awe ,the Eight Wonders of Life Club, perhaps you’ll find solace in this: our “other “category encompassed 5 percent of the responses worldwide.This category included stories about incredible flavours ,video games, overwhelming sensations (for example colour or sound), and first experiences of sex.

It also merits considering what was NOT mentioned in stories of awe.

Money did not figure into awe.

Awe occurs in a realm separate from the mundane world of materialism, money, acquisitions, and status signaling -a realm beyond the profane that many called the sacred”

This is indeed only a teaser. We only got to page 19 of the book! So much more to unravel for all of us.

The magic of it all is that wonders of life are often nearby. The wonders of life are often nearby. The wonders of life are often nearby. That would be my homework for all of us today to jump up the scale of wonder and move our curiosity a notch upward.

Just for today.

When tomorrow becomes today. Let’s do it again. Just for today.

Infinite wonder. Infinite attention.

While moving into the sections of transformative sections he adds to one of his experiences a simple statement like this one

” Leaving the room, I feel enlivened, yet also strangely humbled”

So long friends…. My room is full of humility and beauty of it all. Stay well and magic.

Mary Oliver, When I am among the trees