The Message of Awe
Some experience it daily, others just sporadically. Everybody knows awe, yet it remains strangely elusive. Diminishing the elusiveness may detract from the mystery. It may also Open one up to even more depth.
Awe cannot be coerced ― yet it can be invited.
For instance, through the environment: the mountains, the sea, a sunset or sunrise, feeling how this is part of an infinitely more expansive universe, a starry night, a religious building, a specific happening, the excellence in any performance.
More abstractly, one feels this – or becomes aware of it – through an encounter with Beauty, Immensity, Depth… with the Unspeakable.
Anything that invites awe can be seen as a kind of autosuggestion.
In other words, it’s a communication with the non-conscious ― therefore, with ‘total self,’ symbolized through the awesome object or situation.
As with any autosuggestion, trying to coerce it, it may backfire.
Eventually, a symbol always leads to total self. A Symbol Is Always YOU. For instance, remember the last time you felt in awe? Chances are you also felt profoundly ‘you’ in that situation.
Awe is the feeling of grandeur in this.
It shows how wonderful and important YOU are. This is the profound message of awe.
At the same time, as in any of the above cases, awe has an awesome effect also because it head-on humbles the ego in contact with the total self ― not standing in the way for a while, being Open. Awe is this combination of humility and grandeur.
An encounter with total self ― therefore also with meaningfulness.
Awe can remarkably feel like coming home where you belong. You can feel at peace with ‘it’: your life, life in general, the universe… in a profoundly meaningful way.
Thus, experiencing awe should always be welcomed as an important moment. It is a close encounter of the meaningful kind.
It’s also a very wholesome moment. At such a time, you breathe sanity. It’s an experience that you should cherish and carry with you. An experience that – if repeated now and then – makes life more worthy.
And yes, this tends towards the mystical.
A mystical experience is always one of awe, even when it doesn’t feel so at first sight. ‘The mystical’ lies further along the road of awesomeness.
Every day an experience of awe is everyday mysticism.
An open door to Open Religion.
Wow.
Related Posts
Non-Conscious Processing is Meaningful
What science shows is not always easy to cope with. Especially if it’s about ourselves. Especially about the deeper parts of ourselves. You cannot consciously decide what is meaningful to you. Dear reader, if this is new to you, then please don’t get too disconcerted. This is a small step – not even a step Read the full article…
Procedural vs. Declarative Knowledge in A.I.
Declarative memory is the memory of facts (semantic memory) and events (episodic memory). Procedural memory is the memory of how to do things (skills and tasks). Both complement each other and often overlap. The distinction is not the same as between conceptual and non-conceptual knowledge. Though related, these categories describe different aspects of knowledge processing: Read the full article…
If You Fake, Do It for Real
‘For real’ is like a very good mime, for instance. It’s fake and at the same time, it may be more real than reality itself. ‘Reality inside’ is more important than ‘reality outside.’ Then who is the faker? While faking, you may get closer and closer to full reality. Faking is in such case a Read the full article…