Source: Who Is Man? (1965), Ch. 5<!-- The sense of the ineffable, p. 88 - 89 -->
Context: Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe.
Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe.
“We intuit also that something similar is possible collectively.”
The Ascent of Humanity
The Ascent of Humanity (2007)
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Charles Eisenstein 17
American writer 1967Related quotes
Letter to Jean Cruveilhier (1837), as quoted by William Coleman, Death is a Social Disease: Public Health and Political Economy in Early Industrial France (1982)
What is to be Done? (1902)
Source: Muhammad: A Biography of The Prophet (2001), Chapter 4: "Revelation"
Source: 1960s - 1970s, The Design of Inquiring Systems (1971), p. 9; cited in Daniel J. Power (2004) Decision Support Systems: Frequently Asked Questions. p. 23