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"...all clear cases of awe have the following two components: an experience of vastness, and a need for cognitive accommodation of this vastness...
"...The need for cognitive accommodation makes you aware that there is a lot you don’t know. You feel small, insignificant & part of something bigger. In this way, awe is a self-transcendent emotion because it focuses our attention away from ourselves & toward our environment..."
"...It is also an epistemic emotion, because it makes us aware of gaps in our knowledge. We can feel overwhelmed looking at the night sky, deeply aware that there is so much we don’t know about the Universe..."
"...In one recent study, participants listed nature as their most common elicitor of awe, followed by scientific theories, works of art and the achievements of human cooperation..."
Overall a good piece from @Helenreflects on the importance of awe in science. Heschel: ‘Wonder or radical amazement, the state of maladjustment to words and notions, is therefore a prerequisite for an authentic awareness of that which is.’ https://aeon.co/essays/how-awe-drives-scientists-to-make-a-leap-into-the-unknown
Some great books, and some slightly random comments, on science and wonder in this conversation @five_books https://fivebooks.com/best-books/science-wonder/
