Awe is mysterious. How do we begin to quantify the goose bumps we feel when we see the Grand Canyon or the utter amazement when we watch a child walk for the first time? How do you put into words the collective effervescence of standing in a crowd and singing in unison or the wonder you feel while gazing at centuries-old works of art? Up until fifteen years ago, there was no science of awe, the feeling we experience when we encounter vast mysteries that transcend our understanding of the world. Scientists were studying emotions like fear and disgust, emotions that seemed essential to human survival. Revolutionary thinking, though, has brought into focus how, through the span of evolution, we’ve met our most basic needs socially. We’ve survived thanks to our capacities to cooperate, form communities, and create a culture that strengthens our sense of shared identity—actions that are sparked and spurred by awe. 
 
Dacher Keltner is a foremost expert on the science of emotions and consultant to Pixar’s Inside Out. A professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center, he is the author of the best-selling books Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and The Compassionate Instinct.  

Join Malcolm Clemens Young in a conversation with Dacher Keltner about his new book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, and how greatly we are in need of this elusive emotion.  

The Forum will be posted on our Youtube channel for viewing on demand.     

Read:

Awe, available online and wherever fine books are sold!

About the Guest

Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. A renowned expert in the biological and evolutionary origins of human emotion, Dr. Keltner studies the science of compassion, awe, love, and beauty and how emotions shape our moral intuition. His research interests also span issues of power, status, inequality, and social class. He is the author of the best-selling book Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and of The Compassionate Instinct.  

About the Moderator

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About  The  Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors, and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online 

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