Ep 47 The Perennial Wisdom of Awe

Awe is a universal emotion that we experience and has been paid attention to by both spiritual and scientific communities. It turns out that experiencing awe is (amazingly!) good for us. And when we are tuned in to it, we can find awe everywhere, from nature to – wait for it – shiny trash can lids. Join us as we talk about ways to open to even more awe in our lives. 

Additional Resources
TV Series: Foundation on Apple TV 

#Mindfulness
#ContemplativeMusic
#Exeperience
#Perennial 

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Transcript

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

perennial wisdom, moments, awe, experience, notice

Dominic Kaiser  00:06

Welcome to The Contemplative Life: Three pastors, friends and spiritual companions help us explore spirituality through a contemplative lens.

I'm Christina Roberts.
I'm Chris Roberts.
I'm Kristina Kaiser. We're glad you joined us.  

Hello, it's good to be with you. Today, we are taking some time to talk about the perennial wisdom of awe. And that word perennial may be familiar to some, but just to kind of give a sense of it, perennial tends to mean spanning across traditions.  So you can find it seems true in more than one place. And it turns out with that word, awe, there's actually a ton of different ways that people have defined it over the centuries even. But if we can just take a basic definition that kind of includes all of them, you can see art as a universal emotion, something that all people can experience when they are feeling overwhelmed by things like greatness. 

And so things that are fascinating, things that are mysterious, things that are super natural:  All of this tends to elicit a response in us. And what's more has this crossover with science as well. So people have done studies, social studies on this kind of thing, where they take a group of people into one room, and they take a group of people into another room. And so this one room, they might watch a nature video and all these amazing things happening in nature.  This other group watches, 10 minutes, so each of them is getting 10 minutes. But this other group watches 10 minutes of something like a news segment. And then they stage a whole thing, somebody comes into the room, they accidentally drop these pens all over the floor. And they found that people that had just watched something that would elicit awe were more likely to help pick up those pens to be helpful, which is just fascinating to me. So the perennial wisdom of awe.

Christina Roberts  02:05

Kristina, I'm struck by this idea of perennial wisdom, yes, it shows up if I'm hearing you right, in these different sorts of spiritual faith traditions. But I love just this example that you gave that it also shows up in science. That as a researcher, people are also noticing that when we are exposed to awe, it elicits a different emotional response to us. And so again, I think that just speaks that there's a thread within humanity that rings true with this idea of kind of being caught up in something greater than ourselves, those sorts of moments that you're describing.

Chris Roberts  02:36

I was thinking back to what maybe was one of the first experiences that I had with this thing of all, or a moment that I called Awesome. But thinking back, I was a kid. And I'm not exactly sure what age but we would take these late summer, fall vacations to the Fort Davis Mountains.  One of the things that I noticed is, whenever I first would trek up into the mountain, and I got to the top of the mountain, I looked out over the valley, and I had what I would call an awe experience. And it did something to me inside. And so, you know, the next day, I want to track up to the mountain again. And it's like, yeah, that's great, but it's not all that great. And then I would do it again, you know, maybe a day or so later. And the more that I did it in a repetitious manner, the less that I experienced awe. But I also noticed that whenever I would take a break from that experience, coming back the very next year, and hiking to the top of the mountain and looking out, taking a break from doing it repeatedly that I would have that same experience. So I think that's something that comes up for me.  I think when we try to formulate awe in our life, or you make a pattern out of it, somehow the ability to inspire awe ourselves diminishes.

Kristina Kaiser  04:09

That is fascinating. I don't know why, but it brings me right back to food. When you first take a bite of something, and you're like, Oh, that is so amazing. But actually, something about your palate gets a little dull the more that you taste it.  It can be helpful to take a drink, and something about that refreshes everything. And similarly, maybe going up the mountain and then Oh, I did that once before. So we need a refresh somehow, which is interesting. 

It reminds me a lot of mindfulness, which is something I've practiced with food a lot lately, which is probably why food is what comes to mind. Even when I'm drinking a cup of coffee while I'm reading, I've been trying to like take that microsecond pause to say, ah this is good. I've been so enjoying this because otherwise I do repetition and it kind of dulls the senses. And again, scientifically speaking, when they talk about all these benefits, the mood increases, that time seems more spacious, that critical thinking even somehow is going to help you in your work. There's all this benefit in engaging with awe.

Christina Roberts  05:21

I was recently on a 24-hour silent retreat. And so you know, you eat your meals in silence just by yourself. And, to your point, Kristina, I think a lot of times we are rushing through food, etc. And, at least for me, when I'm on a silent retreat, the mealtime is a highlight for me because I'm breaking up my day even though I'm not talking to other people or sitting where other people are eating.   And so this practice of eating really slowly and really being mindful.  And I found myself like, Wow, I'm so grateful.  We might pray, “Thank you, for the hands who prepared this food” kind of a blessing. But literally, I'm grateful.  I was mindful of where this potato came from, and who grew this onion, those sorts of things, in the slower sense. And so I wonder if even that sense of awe, not that every meal is like that, for sure. But taking those times where we can slow down and really sort of soak in a slower manner. Some of the 
“day to day” ordinary things that otherwise are not very inspiring. A potato in general is not that inspiring, unless one is sitting there really reflecting on that potato.

Chris Roberts  06:23

Yeah, I think that's something else that comes up for me, as we're talking about awe is,  What can produce awe in oneself?  And I know that we're talking about spirituality running in those circles.  What I've discovered being a part of faith traditions is the idea of creating these formulas to these experiences that we have in life. I think the thing that we've touched on a little bit, if you do something over and over again, it diminishes the ability to have an honest moment. But I think one of the things that I have noticed maybe can play into all is the sense that we could have an openness to awe and be open to new possibilities, open to new experiences.  I think the more that we try to control, the more that we try to schedule, the more that we try to make something formulaic, the less likely we are to have our experiences.  One of the things that I've noticed is that just having a general openness to the world and openness to people is if you could have a formula to an awe inducing experience, probably, I would say openness would be one of the things that you could have as a formula.

Kristina Kaiser  07:34

For sure, because it does hit you by surprise, it comes out of nowhere.  Like this morning, I'm working out. And that's going to be busy. From the time my workout starts and ends to the time that we are leaving the house is like 40 minutes.  It's going to be super-fast. And so I was just quickly looking out the window and it was so pink, blazing pink over the treetops. And I did try to capture it with my phone. But phones don't actually capture the color as bright as it really was. I was like Dominic, you have to come over here, which I do think that this sharing of your own experiences is also probably a really meaningful piece of it.  You can experience awe yourself, there's nothing wrong with that. But when you get to share it, it kind of opens up this whole world. And we have frequently said since moving here, the pink skies, oh my gosh, take a look at that. And so we do spend a lot more time trying to look up but you don't get it every day. So even thinking back to that comment that you made earlier, it really is the fact that this does not happen every moment of every day. It's another special aspect of it.

Christina Roberts  08:48

I think there's something to the idea of openness and even practicing gratitude. And so we recently found out someone was starting a cleaning business. And so we hired him and his partner to do a deep clean for our house because our house desperately needed a deep clean. And so when we walked in, it was like, Oh my gosh, this looks amazing, right? Because they just spent time in detail that we otherwise would not. And so one area that Chris and I were celebrating was the trash can lids that were shining in our kitchen. And so we were like, Oh my gosh, like look at these trash cans. And our 11-year old daughter was like, Are you kidding me? Mom and Dad, you're sitting there talking about a trash can? I sound like my older brother.  This summer, we went to visit my family and we were going on a tour of this park. And my brother was like celebrating the trash cans in this park. And he's really been trying to practice gratitude. And so we were kind of joking around with my brother like, Okay, seriously, you're taking us on a tour and talking about trash cans?  But I had this moment.  Then probably two days later I was listening to a podcast and someone was talking about going to Disney World with their family. And lo and behold they mentioned the trash cans and how everything in Disney, down to the trash cans, brought joy to this family. And I thought God bless my brother.  We were kind of joking around with him during the summer and then I had that moment with the trash cans and really being open to gratitude. And even something as simple as that, yes, the gorgeous skies and the awesome bird that I just saw. But also, something as simple as that can be part of our day-to-day life as well.

Kristina Kaiser  10:22

Which just to say is another benefit of awe.  They actually say materialism goes way down, right? So it's not just shiny diamonds, it's shiny trash can lids. So there you have it.

Chris Roberts  10:38

Can I just say that, I think one of the things that I'm looking forward to and I've missed during the past couple of years during the pandemic is music is very awe producing in me.   Having an experience with other people playing music has this ability to produce awe in me.  I’ve noticed during the pandemic, because we haven't been playing with many people or you know, congregations singing together hasn't been something that has been a part of our faith tradition or just a general experience in life. And so I am looking forward to having more moments of music being something that produces awe in me. There’s just nothing like playing your guitar and singing with other people, or you know, you don't even have to be playing, you could just be in the same setting. And I think that's one thing that I've missed is during the pandemic, you don't get together and listen to concerts or bands. And you're not caught up in the moment of this group of people experiencing the same exact piece of music. And I'm really looking forward to that.

Christina Roberts  11:47

I agree with you on my silent retreat, the monastery where I go, you have a little name tag that says I am on a silent retreat so that people know not to talk to you. And so I went to this little dining area, and this one woman (and I would have loved to talk to her) but she's like, Hi, do you want some company?  And so I'm showing her my tag, so she left me alone. But it just so happened that there was a Suzuki violin concert of young musicians in Madison that were in the room next to me. And so all of a sudden, I'm sitting there in “silence” with my food and this beautiful string just starts playing. And it was just this lovely moment of delving.  I didn't have the conversation piece and that sort of expression so it heightened awareness. It wasn't just background music, like if I were at my house and had Pandora on in the background. There was something about that element of really experiencing that, awe, with slowly chewing my food, looking out a window at the trees and hearing this music. And so I think there's this layering effect that we can have of awe sometimes when we're stripped away from certain aspects, other aspects, I think tend to be heightened.  Maybe like when someone is blind and their sense of hearing is greater some of those sorts of dynamics.

Kristina Kaiser  12:55

Well, I very much appreciate this moment where we take that time to say maybe openness helps us with finding a way to increase our capacity. Or our ability to notice awe seems to have a meaningful benefit in our lives, connection-wise for our personal well-being. Going back to that science, they actually say our own sense of well-being goes through the roof. And so who doesn't need all that? Who doesn't want to feel better and feel more connected to people? So that is the perennial wisdom of our awe.

Now is the time that we take a moment to talk about what we are into. What are we into friends?

Christina Roberts  13:50

Well, I have been into my Stanley Since 1913 cup. And so we recently got a co-op membership at REI and you get like a free $20 so I splurged and bought this thermal cup with a straw and a handle. It's a nice yellow color and I am so grateful. I am often in awe of my cup recently. And so that is what I'm into. I'm into my new cup.

Chris Roberts  14:17

Well, I have been into the new television series called Foundations based off of Isaac Asimov's book, Foundations.  I have not really been able to read them yet, but I'm watching the television series and I'm super inspired to actually read the books now. So I am into Foundation.

Kristina Kaiser  14:44

I am into planning Thanksgiving dinner. So probably by the time this episode airs, Thanksgiving will be gone. But in this particular moment, I've got the menu, I've made the grocery list, I’ve gotten all the people in my family excited about what's coming. And I'm just dreaming of it. So that is what I am into. 

Thank you so much for joining us today. If you are looking to go deeper into your spiritual journey, we do invite you to check out our spiritual direction page on our website. There's all kinds of additional information there, videos that can tell you more about what spiritual direction and what companioning is all about. Until next time, make it a great week.