A good example of such a momentary interruption and shift in our awareness is the experience of awe and wonder which most people have on a regular basis. In his recent book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life American Psychologist Dacher Keltner reports that awe was experienced most frequently when people encountered what he refers to as Moral Beauty — seeing other people being kind, generous, compassionate, or putting themselves at risk for another.
Examples of kindness to strangers abound in daily life. And in situations where violence is common place, such as in war or where there are warring factions or gangs, courageous behaviors are also exhibited frequently. Natural disasters also cause people to go to out of their way to help others, even strangers. In the face of disaster, individuals often go out of their way to help by donating money, food, clothing, or supplies; offering shelter; or helping to rescue other in danger.
When we observe moral beauty it is understandable how our constant internal thought process is interrupted as we witness a human in need and another human responding to fill that need, reminding us of the kindness and generosity of which humans are capable. In a society teaching us that we are driven by mostly selfish motivations, it is refreshing and inspiring to encounter people who prove that this belief is erroneous.
Keltner writes that second to moral beauty, research subjects reported an experience of awe which he refers to as “collective effervescence” a sensation which emerges when we feel connected to a large gathering of others in a way that is intense and makes us feel as if we are bubbling over. Collective effervescence can take place in a wide variety of social situations including large concerts and music festivals, political rallies or demonstrations, sporting events and cultural events like film festivals.
Notably, Keltner’s top two categories of awe do not involve attractions of the natural world as we might expect, but instead concern the behavior of our fellow humans.
The natural world, however, does inspire sublime naturalistic spiritual experiences. The 18th century German philosopher, Emmanuel Kant, suggests that there are two types of sublime experiences — the mathematical and the dynamic. The mathematical sublime involves the scale of natural phenomena. When we encounter an enormous ocean, a massive mountain range, or the seemingly endless night sky we can feel overwhelmed by our relative insignificance. Witnessing the intense beauty of nature like a splendid sunset, or watching a flock of starlings flying together in an undulating ever-changing pattern, known as a murmuration, can also overwhelm us.
The enormity of space and time also illustrate the mathematical sublime — consider the vastness of space: Imagine you are floating above the house or building you are in, and you keep going higher until you can see the entire Earth. Zoom out further, and you can see the solar system of which Earth is a part. Zooming much, much further out you can observe our galaxy, the Milky Way including one of its minor spiral arms which contains our solar system.
One last zoom out displays the local group of galaxies of which our galaxy, is a constituent. From this perspective the earth is imperceptible, and with sufficient distance, even our galaxy becomes difficult to detect.
The phenomenon of time is also breathtaking. On the time scale of our universe, even a long human life time is so brief that it is barely noticeable. If the entire history of the cosmos, estimated to be about 13.8 billion years, were compressed into one year of time then one second would be equivalent to 437.5 years. In that entire year of cosmic time, humans would not even appear until about seven minutes to midnight on December 31st, the final seven minutes of the final hour, of the final day, of the cosmic year.
The dynamic sublime involves our encounters with natural forces that may be dangerous, intense, and unpredictable such as violent storms, wild fires, tsunamis, tornados, volcanic eruptions, earth quakes, animal stampedes and swarms of stinging or crop destroying insects. Dynamic sublime experiences can inspire awe but can also be terrifying.
Sometimes experiencing a dynamic force such as a furious freezing wind can cause us to feel small and vulnerable, yet at the same time it can refresh us and, having endured its magnitude, fill us with a sense of great strength.
The total solar eclipse of 2024 in North America provides an example of the dynamic sublime combined with collective effervescence when as many as 4 million people traveled to join the 31 million Americans who were in the path of the totality. Both inside and outside of the path there were countless gatherings and watch parties where mesmerized viewers applauded and cheered.
Witnessing a human birth or death are also awe inspiring naturalistic spiritual experiences reminding us of the extraordinary nature of life and its impermanence.