I read an article today by a researcher named Dacher Keltner about awe, and how cultivating awe promotes a sense of connectedness with something larger than the self and pushes people beyond self-interest. An article on Oprah's website that references Keltner's work says the following "Overwhelming, surprising, humbling, even a little terrifying—awe is what we feel when faced with something sublime, exceptional, or altogether beyond comprehension. And as emotions go, it's among the least understood and most difficult to study. How can science measure the feeling of peering over the Grand Canyon, or holding your newborn for the first time?"
But Keltner and his research team ran an experiment where they placed a set of people in front of a T. Rex replica, and another set of people facing a blank wall, and asked them all to answer the statement "I am...." 20 times. The results? The participants standing in front of the blank wall responded with self-focused statements like "I am a soccer player".
In contrast, the participants standing in front of the T. Rex were more likely to respond with statements placing themselves as part of something bigger than them, such as, "I am an inhabitant of the earth". Further research by Keltner and others show that people who tend to see the world through the experience of awe are more likely to feel gratitude and be more empathetic towards others.
I think this you-tube video does a great job capturing one guy's moment of awe upon seeing a double rainbow. I wonder what the world would be like if more people approached life like this guy.
Works Cited:
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion Cognition & Emotion, 17 (2), 297-314
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