How frequently do you experience Reverence and Awe?
Continuously and Constantly
Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly
Once a Decade
Almost Never
Certainly Never
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Towards what (if anything) do you experience a feeling of reverence and awe? How does that experience impact your life? How important is that experience to you?
Do you think that this would be important experience for everyone?
There are so many things on a daily basis. This morning on my way to work, I passed St Paul’s Cathedral. Wow, what reverence , commitment, sincerity one would have to hold in order to conceive of such a thing. It’s not the building itself that is so awesome to me (although it is), it’s the heart they used to build it.
Reminds me to self reflect on that part of me that is awesome and has reverence and gratitude to the infinite.
The experience is important in that I need to be reminded that I am always in the presence of the infinite wisdom and if that is true, how will I act? What will I say? What will I think? It’s important for my spiritual life to appreciate the beauty in the daffodils that are so courageous that they think it’s springtime and aren’t afraid that the snow is going to freeze them, so small and each petal so intricate and perfect. If a flower can play it’s part, surely I can play mine, and strive to perfect my moment, moment by moment so that my life becomes a work of art. One in which the divine is always reflected.
There are lessons and signs and omens everywhere, and everything is present in us and all around us at any given moment - in order for us to tune in.
It’s only important for us in as much as we ourselves strive to attain our highest possibilities.
Darn it, liquidangel, I feel like I’m just folllowing you around…
I’m not sure how often I experience awe. That usually happens in those times of solitude when I’ve gone back country. Navel fuzz time.
Reverence is felt daily. Even as an insensitive male, I can’t go through the day without some reminder of the bounty of this earth and the overwhelming energy of life. This morning I noticed that there was grass starting to grow in the cracks in the concrete in the front sidewalk. In spite of man’s best efforts, there was life. Tenaceous life.
One thing I’ve concluded from the effects of my own spiritual experiences is that it is a mistake to link the experience of genuine awe with the actions of reverence even though the temptation to do so is very strong .
I remember years ago in my more egotistical musician days, of falling into that cynicism in regards to deeper meanings of life. Whatever reasoning came along through philosophy or psychology, I could always find where it fell apart and the bottom line was that it was the same ol same ol much ado about nothing and a dead end. There is a certain joy in finding these flaws and it caused in my case a certain annoyance to those around me that will always come from those called “black sheep”.
However, for some reason I discovered a level of understanding the quality of which I had never experienced previously. No song and dance here. How could such understanding exist? When before it seemed that life was completely absurd, it all of a sudden made perfect sense. Everything was exactly the way it should be under the circumstances subject to great laws I previously had no real awareness of.
This change in understanding produced a powerful experience of awe. I experienced the immensity of inner space that was previously unknown and realized that before this I thought myself pretty good in shuffling around the hidden realities of abstract ideas. Yet now I saw that before this experience I knew absolutely nothing and all my profound cynicism was nothing but expressions of the height of stupidity.
Normally I would find such an experience disturbing. For example, I’m a chess player. If I’d lose due to a mistake I could easily rise from the table in the style of Aaron Nimzovitch and proclaim as he did: “Why must I lose to this idiot?” Or I could express congratulations at another time while secretly thinking to myself “wait till next time you b—tard.”
However, in this deeper experience of the realization that I knew absolutely nothing there was no feeling of “oh yeh, just wait till I have this figured out”. There was only a susrprising acceptance and gratitude. There was no reason for any expression of reverence simply because it was meaningless under the circumstances. There was no reason to put on an act of paying respect since I was known and accepted as knowing nothing and there was no real desire for it on either part. All I could really do is lie back with my mouth open and try to take it in unconcerned with this normal conditioned need to “act”.
Recently I was reading a book in which the author had a profound Christian experience and asked a man of knowledge of these things what to do. He said:
Talk about hitting the nail on the head. It is natural to feel inadequate at these times with the need to do something to compensate. It is difficult to accept our own nothingness and just be “open”. And the curious thing for me was to genuinely experience that the usual egotistical annoyance was not present at this time.
This is why I believe that expressions of reverence destroy the depth of the experience of awe. We end up “doing” something to compensate for the realistic experience of ourselves losing the depth of the experience by allowing it to become a part of our egotism through expressions of reverence.
Real life is really quite subtle but very meaningful in its effects.
I’m struck occasionally with the enormity of the limited nature of human existance. I chose “Once per decade” to reflect that I’ve no illusion of “supernatural” roots to this but rather my comrehension of the enormity of our insignificance, if that makes sense.
You hit upon something that I consider to be an important outcome of the experience of reverence and awe: humility.
It looks like most of the people who replied here have this kind of experience not directed towards what might be called a religious direction. I think that is interesting. I think the experience of reverence and awe is one of the potential benefits from religious practice, while it is also possible to gain this benefit outside of religious practice.
My hypothesis about this subject is that the experience of reverence and awe in and of itself is an essential ingredient in humility. It is difficult if not impossible to experience humility without first experiencing reverence and awe. Humility is the perfect antidote for the toxins of arrogance and hubris. It provides relief from a dangerously over-inflated sense of self-importance.
When a person lacks these experiences of reverence and awe then they are easy prey for such threats to their sanity. Humility is also a key ingredient in respect.
I have reverance for life in general in all its entirety - laughter, gaiety, sorrow, joy, amusement, a smile, punctuality, health, sickness, festivals, love, respect and justice.
I have reverance for nature - roses, flowers, waterfalls, autumn, seasons, rainfall, snowfall, hail and storms, tornadoes, a soft breeze and a harsh wind.
I have reverance for people and God - only if they don’t play with my feelings or rights and make my life richer or don’t affect it at all.
I’m in awe of God, the giant universe, nature, money, love, feelings and all life and non-life.
Most people think that we should have reverance for God and be in awe of Him or be God-fearing. I don’t think the same. I think love and respect are equally important, but if I had to choose, I’d choose love. So if God gives me shit some day, I’ll drop hell on Him the other day. That’s called love. Anything else is just drama that God hates.