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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Rev Virginia Luckett

The Science of Awe

Good morning and welcome.

Recently I stumbled across some interesting research by the John Templeton Foundation about the science of awe AWE. Which says, that spine tingling mixture of terror, amazement and connectedness with something much bigger than ourselves, which we call awe, is a uniquely human experience linked to our well-being.

It is thought the ability to feel awe was first developed way back, prehistory, when, as early humans, we would stand on the high places and survey the surrounding landscape in an attempt to spot approaching carnivorous animals or anything else that might do us harm.

It seems believable to me, that in spotting a large carnivore from a distance, our ancestors would have felt terror, amazement and connectedness with something much bigger than themselves because it was striding towards them. In the heady, highly intense emotion of that moment, coupled with the relief and joy felt after taking some action to avoid the grizzly encounter; our prehistoric ancestors would have felt great! Forever imprinting on our human psyche that experiencing awe leads to our wellbeing.

And nowadays, according to this scientific research, feeling awe-inspired is still beneficial to mental health as it is now proven to create a sense of holistic well-being and connectedness with life as we know it. In fact, the research says, it is good to experience awe every day.

So today I pray that each of us that we will have the opportunity to take a moment out of our day to survey the landscape of our own lives and find awe.

Amen.

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