awe

an emotional and intellectual respect for grandeur

Can have involuntary physical symptoms, e.g. goosebumps, a lump in the throat, stammering, even tears.

Sometimes considered an important ingredient of or inspiration for the religious experience.

Can be frightening, humbling, overwhelming, even terrible; but often described as ecstatic, joyful, appreciative.

Awe might be considered also an extreme of admiration: e.g. like you might feel for a top-caliber acrobat or musician.

Sometimes considered a variety of "peak experience".

Complementary virtues

Contrasting vices

  • arrogance / pride
  • cynicism
  • small-mindedness
  • being unmoved
  • world-weariness

Virtues possibly in tension

TBD

How to acquire or strengthen it

TBD

Notes and links

Mentioned elsewhere

TBD

Inspirational quotes

  • “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” ―Albert Einstein
  • “Watch the stars in their courses and imagine yourself running alongside them. Think constantly on the changes of the elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life.” —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.47