BOOKS: Old, New and Obscure

“Awe: The New Science of everyday Wonder and How it Can Transform Your Life”

By Dacher Keltner
Penguin Press, 2023

What experiences bring you awe? That is the question Dacher Keltner and his colleagues asked people from diverse cultures. We have come far in our understanding of the science of emotion in the past few decades. Yet, when reading “Awe,” one is struck by how close this book is to the origins of the social sciences. In the early days of anthropology and sociology, researchers lived within a society to listen and learn from the people. In “Awe” Keltner broadens our knowledge of the psychology of emotion through the 2,600 narratives collected from speakers of twenty-six languages.

From these narratives and more formal studies, Keltner defines awe as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.” The author presents a taxonomy of awe, eight wonders of life: moral beauty, collective effervescence, nature, music, visual design, spiritual and religious, life and death, and epiphanies. 

Moral beauty was the leading source of awe across many narratives. Stories were told about other people’s kindness, and overcoming obstacles and talents. These may be, seemingly, small, like the kindness of a librarian bringing books to a prisoner or the heroic story of a prisoner in solitary confinement leading a hunger strike. The settlement of his court case allowed 2,000 prisoners to move out of solitary confinement. Many also found awe when witnessing birth or death. One such story recounts the death of the author’s youngest brother.

Read these amazing stories. Keltner writes: “Awe helps us understand the cycle of life and death,” and “Awe shifts us to a systems view of life. We are made up of interlocking systems.”

If we attend to awe, we thrive. Awe is good for us. Research has shown that, above all other positive emotions, awe predicts lower levels of the inflammation that wreaks havoc on many of our bodies these days. A daily dose of awe will help to rest and restore our weary souls.

– Mary Barbera