Pondering today on an article in today's Parade Magazine on the feeling of awe. You may have read it and had the same reaction that I did. The author described the feeling of awe:
“Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale, that transcends our current understanding of things,” says psychologist Dacher Keltner, who heads the University of California, Berkeley’s Social Interaction Lab.We might say that it's a response to something that takes our breath away or leaves us speechless. I felt that way this week when we took a day trip to Palasaides Park and saw the beautiful mountain vista stretched out before us. Our daughter has spoken of the same feeling when she and her husband hiked to Oregon's Crater Lake. The author has it right--we are wired to feel awe, but there is something much more transcending than "to get us to act in more collaborative ways, ensuring our survival."
Yes, "we realize we’re a small part of something much larger. Our thinking shifts from me to we." But the we is not just you and me, the we is mostly God because it's really about Him. The heavens declare the glory of God. It is His glory that transcends anything we understand. It is something far beyond ourselves.
Why, then, as the author states, does "[awe] make us act more generously, ethically and fairly?" Because we are made in God's image, and that is how God is. Awe is our spirit resonating with the one who is drawing us to Himself. Those of us who know Him respond in worship at those times. What an awesome thing it is, to recognize the hand of God!
Photo ~ Crater Lake Panorama August 2013, Epmatsw, Wiki Commons CC 3.0
