What I'm Reading: The Liminal Nature of Awe
One reason that we crave liminal experiences is that they often inspire us with awe. They disrupt our everyday models of how the world works, creating what some psychologists call “little earthquakes of the mind.” Our awareness expands, our sense of time may be distorted and our perception of reality changes, if only for a moment.
“Why It’s Awesome Your Brain Can Experience Awe,” Washington Post
What is awe? Richard Sima, a neuroscientist turned journalist, says awe has two parts:
It is a response to encountering something more vast, complex, or mind-blowing than we had conceived of either physically or conceptually.
The experience also induces a change in how we see the world, producing “little earthquakes in the mind.”
In a Washington Post essay, Sima describes how he felt awe when he held a human brain, cupping it in his hands, fearing he might drop it. He felt the weight of it—probably three pounds of flesh, smelling of preservative. But the weight was also intangible:
Holding the brain, I couldn’t help but think how this was a person in my hands, and their thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears and dreams — a whole life — were embodied in its folds and creases.
The article offers several suggestions for eliciting awe, such as
Viewing something giant such as a mountain range or ocean. Discovering something tiny such as the worlds seen through a microscope. Contemplating a piece of music or (re)discovering a piece of art. Taking “awe walks” through your neighborhood or in nature, which is a never-ending source of awe.
Eight Reasons That Awe Makes Your Life Better, Greater Good Magazine
Yes, it is possible to seek out experiences that produce awe, and this article gives you eight reasons that doing so improves your life.
Awe, Wonder, and the Human Mind, Annals of the New York Academy of Science
Interested in a more scientific discussion of awe? Psychologist Michelle N. Shiota, who has been researching the phenomena for more than 20 years, beautifully describes some of the research about how awe is created and how it can reconfigure perception of the world.