The Power of Awe: What is Awe?

How do you define awe? What was the last awesome thing you experienced (or witnessed)?

As I write this blog post, I’m reflecting on my theme of Self-Trust for 2022. Last year, I chose the theme of Self-Actualization that led me to a renewed interest in all things awesome in my past and yet to be experienced in the future. Turns out, one of the many benefits of cultivating awe is increased curiosity and courage in moving forward (aka Self-Trust). I wrote about the benefits of awe and expanded on this particular benefit in my last post, here.

But what is awe? I love going to various dictionaries when I want to get to the root of the meaning of a word and its original impact. Words evolve in meaning over time and I love to compare the original, the archaic, and obsolete meanings with today’s use. Here are just a few definitions of awe:

• Oxford Languages-Google: A feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.
• Merriam-Webster: An emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that inspired by authority or the sacred or sublime.

I was curious about the archaic meanings such “the power to inspire dread” and the obsolete meanings of “fear or dread”.

I love the definition offered by The Greater Good – Science-Based Insights for a Meaningful Life.

Awe is the feeling we get in the presence of something vast that challenges our understanding of the world like looking up at the millions of stars, [watching your favourite Olympic athletes win medals and break world records], … seeing a stranger give food to a person in need [or the birth of a child].

Going Deeper on Defining Awe

As evidenced by the variety of definitions, awe can be difficult to precisely define. Let’s go deep. Many people describe awe as a human response to a spiritual presence; a complex emotion that can be intensely pleasurable or imbued with dread depending on the context.

Let’s go deeper with research: According to scientific research conducted by behavioural neuroscientists and presented in Neural Basis of Dispositional Awe,  “Awe differs from common positive emotions, triggered by vast stimuli, and characterized by a need for accommodation (NFA).”  

Based on studies of people in 30+ countries, researchers have identified certain properties of awe. These properties include:

• Vastness: anything perceived as being immense in physical size, social status, scope, or complexity as compared to the Self. In addition, awe comes from a vast variety of sources, including physical, philosophical, temporal (related to time and how music can stretch time).
• Transcendence: awe transcends our understanding of the world and requires a new mental schema reorganization to accommodate our experience(s). Awe can significantly alter the concept of Self in a way that shifts our attention toward larger entities such as our community, the human species, or nature (Earth and the Universe).
  • Astronauts who experienced Earth from orbit reported an incredible feeling of awe and wonder and being transformed by what they describe as the magic such a perspective brings.
• An embodied response including emotions, the nervous system, and a brain state:
  • Down regulation of the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for executive function/intentional control.
  • Up regulation of the Default Mode Network (DMN) which is the interaction between multiple areas of the brain that are active during ideation: imagination, divergent thinking, creativity, innovation, etc.
  • Increase of activity in the right side of the brain (and decrease in the left) which is correlated to the brain state when people engage in society or culture.

Being in the Presence of Awe

With much gratitude, l am able to recall several special moments when awe was so present and intense that I felt the surge of emotion and a state of euphoria.

• A solitary drive on a country road lined with tall grasses showing off their plume-shaped heads blowing in the breeze and parting as my car moved slowly forward. As the grasses yielded to my car, I peered in my rear-view mirror to see the grasses flow back into place. Simultaneously and serendipitously, my favourite piece of music played - “Karaj”, A Prayer For The Soul of Layla - enfolding me in a sense of awe. I experienced an epiphany that day about being totally present in my life.
• An evening alone with my partner on the patio of Villa Harmony, Les Terres Basses, Saint Martin when the island experienced a full black-out. Suddenly, the black sky was streaming with stars. I felt like I could reach up and trace the Milky Way. The insects fell quiet for a brief moment and then “rebooted” their chirps and whistles. Starlight was the only light. I was in awe of my presence in the vast Universe.
• The hours before my son was born when his heartbeat was broadcast through a sound system in the delivery ward announcing his impending arrival. The sound and sense of awe was and is to this day, indescribable. This was the ultimate feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder. The wonder of a child beginning the world again.

As I wrote in my previous post, awe has a widespread effect on our sense of Self. Studies find that awe affects our sense of time, humility (Awe and humility, 2018), prosocial behaviour, and life satisfaction (Self-Actualization).

I assert that in our current time of the pandemic, one effective “non-invasive” response to improving our health and well-being is to actively cultivate awe for our Self and for people around us. I assert that cultivating awe-inspiring experiences and accumulating the effects of awe builds Self-Trust which adds to our resilience for living in uncertain times.

What do you think? How do you define awe? How do your awesome experiences redefine you and add to your resilience? 

In this series on the Power of Awe, I continue to define awe, explore how awe defines us, and uncover some practical ways to cultivate more awe in our lives. That is the next question, “how do we cultivate awe?”

Reference:

• A Prayer For The Soul of Layla - Track "Karaj"
  • On Spotify - Full Album
  • On Apple Music - Full Album
  • YouTube - Track "Karaj"

You can reach me on LinkedIn. Or click to Get in Touch.

• Subscribe to THRIVE content and updates. Receive announcements and new content, worksheets, and tools that we offer to our THRIVE! community. 
• Accelerate your emotional well-being and resilience. Start with your 90-day EQ mini plan. Complimentary.
• Up-level your EQ experience. Check out the online mini-course Your Building Blocks to Emotional Well-Being and Resilience.
• Check out the THRIVE in Work and LifeTM programs.
• Feature Video: The Secret to Creating a Sustainable Business Foundation - Best Practices For Female Entrepreneurs