Thomas Cole was born in 1801 in Lancashire England just as the Industrial Revolution was getting underway, and smog-generating factories were taking over the local landscape. When he was 17 his family emigrated to North America, where wilderness still covered much of the continent. Cole was already a budding artist, and his encounter with the natural grandeur of the Hudson River valley was a revelation. He was compelled to paint large canvases of the vast landscapes.
Other American landscape painters soon followed his example, such as Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt. In this era before Spielberg movies, audiences would pay admission to sit on rows of benches and gaze at Church’s large-scale painting of the Andes.
Bierstadt’s specialty was the western frontier, and impressive images of the Rocky Mountains. His large paintings also went on successful tours before paying audiences. He sold one painting, Lander’s Peak, to a railway baron for $25,000 — an enormous fortune in 1865.
People flocked to view these paintings of immense vistas because they inspired awe, the emotion we experience when we encounter vast mysteries, amazed at the cosmos outside ourselves.
The origin of the English word awe was darker than our current usage: seven hundred years ago the word signified a shuddering reverence and dread of the almighty gods.
But by the Nineteenth Century the word had taken on a softer sheen. The artists of the Romantic Movement used it to describe how they felt when contemplating the sublime grandeur of Nature.
Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Berkeley, and his research team have studied this positive version of awe across many human cultures and explored its origin in mammalian evolution. They have also tied its benefits to the latest neuroscience.
Chimpanzees in the wild often do a spontaneous exuberant raindance, whooping and jumping during thunderstorms or when in the vicinity of a loud waterfall.
Primatologist Jane Goodall speculates that this dance is “triggered by feelings of awe, wonder…” All mammals get “the shivers” under certain conditions. When experiencing awe, humans of every culture experience goosebump tingles.
People across the world produce similar non-linguistic “vocal bursts” when experiencing different emotions. When awestruck, they utter some variation of the universal Whoaa! exclamation.
Keltner defines awe as the thrilling feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends our current understanding. He says: “Awe enables us to see the systems underlying the wonders of life and locate ourselves in relation to them.”
Keltner writes that on the biological level: “Being moved by awe triggers the release of oxytocin and dopamine, a calming of stress-related physiology, and vagus nerve response, systems of millions of cells working to enable us to connect, be open, and explore.”
In particular, awe diminishes the activity of the brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN). In loose terms, the DMN is what we commonly call the ego-self.
At its worst, the DMN self tells me that I am the Center of the Universe, which actually feels like a claustrophobic prison. I am trapped with an ever-chattering monologue in my skull about Me, Me, Me…
Awe is a release from this egotistic oppression, a humbling (but not humiliating) antidote to self-obsession. Gazing up at stars in the infinite night sky, our petty internal voices subside.
Although awe evolved as a response to natural wonders and for social cohesion, Keltner notes that human societies eventually developed “cultural archives” that also trigger awe, such as astonishing artistic achievements in music, architecture, technology, etc.
Keltner says that we also feel awe in response to what he calls “moral beauty” — when we are moved by instances of great courage, compassion, or resilience.
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One thinks of Victor Frankl, who maintained his principles and moral humanity during three terrible years of bare survival in Nazi death camps.
At crucial moments, say in the presence of childbirth or death, we may feel an existential sense of awe about the meaning of life.
At those times, Keltner suggests that we can use awe as a “compass” to determine a renewed meaning and purpose for our lives.
Whenever we are awestruck, we should pay attention to what clues it has for our personal journey. Awe is a fast-track to discovering what is most meaningful to us personally.
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NOTES:
More about Dacher Keltner’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622175/awe-by-dacher-keltner/
Other proven ways to reduce activity of the brain’s DMN are through meditation, psychedelic drugs, and “flow” activities.
Viktor Frankl’s great book:
I just went through this very quickly drawn by the Thomas Cole - familiar with those paintings. Love where you went with Awe. Will come back for a closer reading, but at the moment, pressed for time.
This was a wonderful read. I loved the exploration of awe through different lenses.