Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder

‘We took everybody on a journey that said the arts, too, have their place in the life of a city’, she continued, ‘and that the city doesn’t just have to be about shopping and traffic, that it’s as important for people collectively to share these moments, moments like this, as it is for them to share or to experience moments in their own life. You k

While traditional spiritual teachings aim to remedy this state through inward-looking activities such as prayer and meditation, I find the research on awe powerful because it suggests that we can find a way to access the sacred side of life by looking around us.

According to psychologists Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt, awe is the sense of wonder and amazement that occurs when someone is inspired by great knowledge, beauty, sublimity, or might. It’s the experience of confronting something greater than yourself.

“One of the realities we’re all called to go through is to move from repulsion to compassion and from compassion to wonderment.”