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
Dealing with Uncertainty
Some people find it hard to live with any kind of uncertainty. Others, somehow, seem to handle it more easily. There may be personal reasons for that, and cultural ones too. Yet the experience of uncertainty touches all of us, sooner or later — and when it becomes too much, it can lead to real Read the full article…
Metastability and Paradox
Paradox and metastability seem different: one is about contradictory truths, the other about flexible stability. Yet in Compassion, they belong together. This blog explores how paradox can ripen into wisdom when carried in a state of metastability, and how metastability remains alive through paradox. Together, they explain why Lisa’s originality is both trustworthy and alive. Read the full article…
Maya’s Veil is Everywhere
In Eastern philosophy, Maya is often described as the veil that prevents one from seeing the true nature of existence. This creates an omnipresent illusion that influences how we perceive the world, ourselves, and even our thoughts. From an AURELIS perspective, this ties closely to subconceptual processing, where most of our mental workings happen beyond Read the full article…