Notes on Awe by Dacher Keltner

​A teacher recommended to me a while ago the book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner. I just finished reading it and learned a lot. It explored the topic of awe from a scientific and psychological perspective and why it even exists across species, and the book reminded me of Philip Fisher’s Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences.

I like how the author broke down the eight sources of wonder in life and described the actual biology and science behind the emotions of awe and wonder. It made me think a lot about magic as well from this perspective and the role it plays in life.

Below are my main notes and takeaways.

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Intro
Find awe to be happy
Can find awe anywhere
Brief moments of awe
8 wonders in life
Seeing strength, courage, and kindness in others
Dance, sports
nature
Music
Art and visual design
Mystical encounters
life and death
Big ideas and epiphanies 

Section 1 a science of awe

1 8 wonders of life
Emotions central to survival
Feeling of presence of something vast or mysterious and transcendent
Art
Collective effervescence
Nature
Music
Visual design
Cycle of life
Epiphany

2 awe inside out
Emotions transform how we perceive l the world
Being part of something larger
Vanishing self
Overview effect 
Default mode network and ego quiets down
Wonder

3 evolution of the soul
Tears, chills, and whoa’s
Communal sharing moves us to tears
ASMR
Goosebumps
Awe vs fear vs horror
Chills prompt social huddling and support

Section 2 stories of awe

4 moral beauty, others kindness and courage 

5 collective effervescence (moving in unison, ritual, sport, dance, religion, public life)
Shared consciousness
Awe walk
No hedonic adaptation to awe

6 wild awe (nature becomes spiritual and heals bodies and minds)
Awe reduces polarization of opinions

Section 3 cultural archives

7 musical awe embraces us in community
Life patterns

8 sacred geometries and visual design

9 fundamental it, spiritual life grows out of awe
Psychedelics ego death

Section 4 living a life of awe

10 life and death (awe helps us understand)

11 epiphany: we are part of bigger systems than ourselves