Awe – the humbling and inspiring emotion we feel in response to mystery – is a tool we can use for individual and collective well-being, says psychologist Dacher Keltner.
The UC Berkeley professor outlines eight everyday sources of wonder in his new book AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
Dacher Keltner in the eucalyptus grove on the UC Berkeley campus Photo: Lucas Foglia for Noema Magazine
After surveying people in 26 countries (including Aotearoa), Keltner and his research team found that, worldwide, the strongest sense of awe comes from appreciating the everyday goodness of others.
"[Other people's] kindness, their courage, their capacity to overcome things, their wisdom, their sense of beauty, their sense of humour… the virtues and strengths of people move us, they inspire us to awe and we often underappreciate that in our daily lives."
Experiences of awe also shine a light on what's most personally meaningful to us, Keltner says.
"Awe is like a meaning compass. It points you in the direction of the things you care about most and elevates that branch of happiness."
It is possible to shift your mindset in the direction of awe, he says.
"You've got to wander a bit, you've got to start with questions, you have to move towards mysteries rather than things you already know, you have to distrust easy labels … and just allow yourself to be open [to it]."
Photo: Penguin Random House
Grief can be a pathway, too, and the death of Keltner's brother Rolf in 2019 was part of his motivation to write the book.
"I was awash in the feeling of grief – of panic and confusion and disorientation and loss and sadness – and went in search of awe to find my way through grief.
"The night he passed away, as I encountered that vast mystery of his life ending I felt awe."
Later, when grief had Keltner "very disoriented, panicky and struggling", he set out to refind it by reflecting on people who inspire him morally and by walking in nature every day.
Experiencing awe makes us realise whatever we are stressed out about is fleeting and just a small part of the bigger picture, he says.
"That realisation in a way lightens our load … but it also reveals that our individual actions impact the system.
"There's great wisdom in the stepping back that awe provides and the insights it gives us into how we can be a part of positive social change."
Keltner, who has previously written about the paradox of power and human goodness, says one of his career highlights was consulting on emotion science for the 2015 Pixar film Inside Out.
"We made the case for the film [for the value of the character]. She turns out to be the hero in the film. [The experience of sadness] gives us wisdom, it allows reflection. It allows young Riley, who's 11, to reflect on what she's losing in childhood and where she's going."
8 ways to inspire awe (courtesy of The Sunday Times)
1. Moral beauty
2. Collective effervescence (obtained by synchronised movement with other people)
3. Wild awe (a sense of wonder at nature)
4. Music ("Go find a piece of music that gives you the chills and think why is that speaking to you? why does that music matter?")
5. Visual design
6. Spirituality and religion
7. Stories of life and death
8. Epiphanies (obtained by activities like pondering the infinity of space)
- Listen - Dacher Keltner on power and corruption (Saturday Morning, 2016)
