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But what is the end of awe, its unifying purpose? Here’s my answer. Awe integrates us into the systems of life—communities, collectives, the natural environment, and forms of culture, such as music, art, religion, and our mind’s efforts to make sense of all its webs of ideas. The epiphany of awe is that its experience connects our individual selves with the vast forces of life. In awe we understand we are part of many things that are much larger than the self.

Being part of this scientific story of awe has taught me that the evolution of our species built into our brains and bodies an emotion, our species-defining passion, that enables us to wonder together about the great questions of living: What is life? Why am I alive? Why do we all die? What is the purpose of it all? How might we find awe when someone we love leaves us? Our experiences of awe hint at faint answers to these perennial questions and move us to wander toward the mysteries and wonders of life.

Acknowledgments

I feel such warmth when thinking about my vast network of collaborators in the science of awe: Craig Anderson, Yang Bai, Belinda Campos, Serena Chen, Daniel Cordaro, Rebecca Corona, Alan Cowen, Dante Dixson, Amie Gordon, Sara Gottlieb, Kristophe Green, Jon Haidt, Oliver John, Neha John-Henderson, Michael Kraus, Daniel Loew, Laura Maruskin, Galen McNeil, Maria Monroy, Joseph Ocampo, Chris Oveis, Paul Piff, Disa Sauter, Lani Shiota, Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Eftychia Stamkou, Daniel Stancato, Jennifer Stellar, Todd Thrash, Jessica Tracy, Ozge Ugurlu, Everett Wetchler, David Yaden, Felicia Zerwas, and Jia Wei Zhang. This science was enabled in profound ways by the bold support of Christopher Stawski and the John Templeton Foundation. For the awe pioneers who shared their time and stories of awe with me, I bow my head in appreciation here. For careful readings of my writing, I am grateful to Barry Boyce, Yuria Celidwen, Natalie Keltner-McNeil, Mollie McNeil, Michael Pollan, and Andrew Tix. I found such joy in talking about awe with Chris Boas, Nathan Brostrom, Danielle Krettek Cobb, Chip Conley, Claire Ferrari, Roshi Joan Halifax, Jeff Hamaoui, Serafina Keltner-McNeil, Casper ter Kuile, Michael Lewis, Evan Sharp, Dan Siegel, Jason Silva, Matias Tarnopolsky, Jon Tigar, and Nick U’Ren. Thank you, Jason Marsh, for creating so many conversations about awe at the Greater Good Science Center. I had deep hesitations about writing this book, and upon starting had no idea what form it would take. My agent, Tina Bennett, guided me in finding the structure and soul of the book; she pointed me in regular missives to currents of awe in history, literature, and culture and challenged me in different drafts. Thinking of this brings a current of goose bumps to me now. To work on this book with my editor, Ann Godoff—all I can say is wow. What a humbling and mind-opening experience it has been. Thank you, Ann, for your interest in the transcendent, for guiding my writing with lightning-bolt epiphanies about this mysterious emotion, and for pushing me toward an understanding of the essence of awe beyond the data and figures and hypotheses.

Credits

1: Map of emotional experiences evoked by video, copyright © Alan S. Cowen, 2017.

2: Research materials and findings from study of vanishing sense of awe, courtesy of Yang Bai.

3: Selfies from participants in the “awe walk” study, courtesy of Virginia E. Sturm.

4: The sculpture of the skinless man, from Galerie de Paléontologie et D’anatomie Comparée, courtesy of the author.

5: Participants in a study of wild awe, courtesy of Craig Anderson and Maria Monroy.

6: Participants in a study of study, photos courtesy of Paul Piff.

7: The pull between attachment and release from The Topography of Tears © Rose-Lynn Fisher, published by Bellevue Literary Press 2017, blpress.org.

8: Berlin street art, courtesy of the author.

9: “Transmigración del moderno Maya-Pipil” (1997) mix media on blueprint paper. Artist Leda Ramos. Leda Ramos Collection, Central American Memoria Histórica Archive, Special Collections and Archives, Cal State LA University Library.

Notes

“From wonder into wonder”: Tzu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Translated by Witter Bynner. New York: Perigee, 1944.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT Introduction

I ached physically: For an explanation of how the pain of loss activates different branches of the nervous system, see Eisenberger, Naomi I., and Matthew D. Lieberman. “Why Rejection Hurts: A Common Neural Alarm System for Physical and Social Pain.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8 (2004): 294–300.

GO TO NOTE REFERENCE IN TEXT