Getting beyond ourselves: The transformative potential of awe

ABSTRACT

The climate crisis raises urgent questions. How do we understand human-caused ecological destruction? What will motivate human beings to care for our environmental home? While some believe that fear will spur us to act, anxiety can have the opposite effect. Even those who acknowledge the increasingly precarious situation may dissociate in the face of dire predictions or disavow personal responsibility, thus avoiding lifestyle changes. This paper argues that experiences of awe may serve as better motivators than threats of annhilation. Social psychologists describe awe as a “self-transcendent emotion:” an emotion that shifts one’s focus away from self, binds us to others and promotes collaboration. Experiences of awe, research suggests, help us to feel less preoccupied with our individual needs and more receptive to “otherness,” reorienting us towards the “greater good.” I suggest that awe perturbs the neoliberal, individualistic mindset that characterizes the Anthropocene era by drawing humans into a closer relationship with the “other-than-human” world and encouraging an “ethic of care.” Short personal and clinical vignettes that demonstrate awe’s transformative potential are included.

KEYWORDS:

• Awe
• climate change
• eco-anxiety
• ecology
• neoliberalism
• wonder

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Throughout this paper I will use the term “other-than-human” to refer to dimensions of life on planet earth that are beyond humanity (plants, animals, even the earth itself) (Lien & Palsson, 2021). I’ve chosen to use this term, rather than alternatives such as “non-human,” “more-than-human,” or even simply “nature,” because of the rich meaning that “other” has within psychoanalysis. By using “other-than-human” I hope to encourage the reader to consider the ways that humans act in anthropocentric ways, marginalizing and disregarding these “other” forms of life. Resituating human beings in relation to the natural world deepens and expands our awareness of our interdependence on and connectedness to our environmental home.

² The idea that Earth’s geological record has been drastically altered by one species, human beings.

³ Searles used the term “nonhuman” in his paper. See footnote 1.

⁴ Thru-hiking is an act of hiking a long-distance trail from one end to the other continuously. Completing each of these trails requires a commitment of 5–7 months. The remoteness of these trails required her to carry her gear, food and supplies for the duration of the hike.

⁵ Emotion researchers have come to think of awe as a “prosocial emotion.” That is, an emotion that prompts people to act in ways that benefit others. Social Psychologists consider prosocial behaviors (like helping, comforting, sharing, consoling, cooperating, and protecting others) to be a foundation of moral and ethical action.

⁶ See Pratto et al. (2006), Shiota et al. (2007), Piff et al. (2015), Stellar et al. (2017), Sturm et al. (2020) for examples.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margy Sperry

Margy Sperry, PsyD, LMFT is a Training and Supervising analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, and an international council member for the International Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology.