My 7 Takeaways from Awe by Dacher Keltner

The Secret Ingredient to Meaning and Happiness

11 min readSep 10, 2025

When rating nonfiction books, it is important to me how much I can learn from the book. Books with only one key idea are those I don’t particularly like — in most cases, an article, instead of a book, would suffice. Most nonfiction books, unfortunately, are structured in this way — the key idea is presented, and then an unnecessarily long pitch follows. If you’re lucky, there is good scientific backing to the idea and some points about practical application.

But the information alone is not enough — it should also be convincing. It should be able to influence me, the reader, to make recommended changes and introduce recommended practices into my life. The best books would turn me into a preacher of their ideas — I would go on to recommend the book to other people and to spread their ideas beyond just me.

Dacher Keltner’s Awe is one of such books — getting high scores from me on both accounts — content and influence.

I really enjoyed Keltner’s other excellent book, The Power Paradox, How We Gain and Lose Influence, so when I came across Awe, I knew I was going to read it. The subtitle of Awe is The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Sounds ambitious, but I believe it also delivers. I loved it and highly recommend it. I’ll say more — i wish Keltner were more known and seen online, in talk shows and podcasts, promoting the ideas in this book.

So what is this book about? Keltner explores the profound human experience of awe. He investigates how it shapes our emotional and mental well-being. The book draws on psychology and neuroscience to explain how awe influences relationships, creativity, and happiness. Keltner does not just preach; he refers to studies conducted across a couple of dozen cultures to demonstrate the universal nature of awe and its impact on human beings. And that was the first thing that I found interesting — this is not a concept that is Western-focused, but something you can come across anywhere on the planet. The caveat here is that there is a bit of a cultural difference in terms of the contexts in which people encounter awe — in the West, people feel awe as a result of some individual activities, while in the East, people feel awe more often as a result of group and community activities. But get this, even more incredibly, awe is a phenomenon observed among animals as well.

Keltner defines Awe as a feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends one’s current understanding of the world. Everyone experiences it, and usually many times throughout one’s life — Keltner mentions a figure of 2–3 times per week (!) on average. With Keltner’s help, we can explore how exactly awe manifests, why it has such an impact on us, and what we can do to introduce more opportunities for experiencing awe into our lives.

Here are my 7 takeaways from Awe by Dacher Keltner:

Where can we find Awe? Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world. Vastness can be physical (a tree, a mountain, a singer’s voice), temporal (something that transports you back in time — a smell or a sound), or semantic (ideas). Based on research, Keltner formulates what he calls the eight wonders of life:
- moral beauty — strength, courage, and kindness of others, examples of extraordinary virtue, character (particularly overcoming obstacles), ability, and skill;
- collective movement in actions like dance and sports, when we dance or sing in unison, or cheer our team as part of a large group of fans — for example, by initiating a wave in a packed stadium;
- nature, the vastness and mystery that we encounter, when, for example, facing the ocean, or watching the northern lights, or walking through an ancient forest;
- music, the sound, rhythm, shared listening, when we are moved to tears by a symphony (Brahms’ 3rd?), getting goosebumps when hearing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, or losing yourself in an instrumental improvisation; it could also be a memory of a sound, including the Buddhist om or reciting the Quran;
- art and visual design, human creations of beauty, from art to architecture, Mona Lisa, Guernica, The Starry Night, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Anna Karenina, the Sistine Chapel, Taj Mahal, The Colosseum, Petra, or the Great Pyramid of Giza — the list is endless; it is interesting that the urban art even helps improve population’s health;
- mystical encounters, spiritual and religious awe, from a silent moment of prayer, or entering a centuries-old temple to experiencing transcendence in meditation;
- encounters with life and death, confronting the fragility of life, from witnessing the birth of a child to attending a loved one’s funeral, contemplating mortality during a near-death experience, or as part of philosophical reflection (memento mori);
- big ideas or epiphanies, sudden insights or encounters with profound knowledge, for example, grasping a scientific concept like relativity, reading a life-changing book, or realizing a profound truth about yourself.
You can see how diverse the list is. I have personally experienced awe when listening to Brian Cox’s or Carl Sagan’s explanations of the vastness of the universe, or coming across the concept of Obstacle is the Way from Marcus Aurelius, the birth of my children, the passing of my father, countless experiences involving classical music, art, architecture, and witnessing incredible feats of human skill, fortitude, and resilience. It is, indeed, a long list.
Biological and chemical effects of Awe. Keltner explains how awe is not just an abstract emotion; it has measurable biological and chemical effects on the body. Our parasympathetic nervous system is activated during experiences of awe, which can lead to calm, rest, and repair, counteracting the stress-driven sympathetic response. One key issue is the release of oxytocin, for example, when observing moral beauty or mastery of skill, or during encounters with life and death, which enhances trust and feelings of connection with others. Awe also lowers levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are molecules linked to stress, depression, and chronic disease, suggesting that awe can promote better immune function and overall health. Being in nature, for example, is a well-known antidote to stress; think of the contrast with our usual fast-paced, overheated, and overly noisy urban environments. Neurologically, awe also quiets activity in our default mode network — the brain system associated with self-focus and rumination. Awe slows down our perception of time and reduces heart rate. In short, awe reshapes both brain and body chemistry in ways that make us calmer and healthier.
Awe has an evolutionary purpose. When we consider the very diverse contexts and triggers associated with awe, we can see that this feeling did not develop by accident. There is a range of evolutionary purposes (some of which are covered under the previous point — positive impact on health), but perhaps the most important of those is that awe helps us unite with others. Awe encourages moral and prosocial behavior. It quiets the ego and reminds us we’re part of something larger. Awe strengthens human connection by making us kinder, more empathetic, and more willing to help others. It also helps us handle encounters with threats and the unknown. It brings us joy, allows us to enjoy the present, and helps us find meaning and community, along with healthier bodies and more creative minds.
What does NOT generate Awe? While intuitively understandable, it still hits home to see that research also confirms what awe is not. It is not related to money, fame, or things like consumer items or status signaling. This is an important lesson. Money and consumer products simply do not have the kind of impact the eight wonders have on our mental and physical health, creativity, and happiness. This is something worth reminding ourselves of over and over. That life’s greatest treasures are not owned. They are witnessed.
Awe can trigger dopamine release. Dopamine sharpens our attention, increases curiosity, and motivates exploration. When we encounter awe — whatever works for you — a breathtaking view, a piece of music, or a moral act of beauty — the brain responds by releasing dopamine, which makes us want to learn more, be in the moment, and integrate the experience into our lives. We are encouraged to be better. This is why awe often feels like both pleasure and discovery at once. Awe doesn’t just make us feel good — it energizes growth. Dopamine reinforces patterns of seeking novelty and meaning, encouraging us to go beyond routine and comfort zones. It’s why people often report feeling more creative, more open to new ideas, and more motivated to connect with others after experiencing awe — regardless of what triggers it. In practical terms, tapping into awe — through nature, music, ideas, or community — can make us more resilient against boredom, depression, and burnout. Finally, and importantly, awe sharpens our creativity.
Awe contributes to Meaning and Happiness. Awe isn’t just a passing emotion — it’s a pathway to a more fulfilling life. I already mentioned how awe slows time down. It does not just make us healthier, it helps us feel less hurried and more satisfied with life. Here is another crucial thing — it is impossible to enjoy a life with meaning and to be truly happy without some degree of control over our egos. And guess what, awe is a fantastic mechanism for this too. Our default ego is usually focused on how we are distinct from others, independent, in control, and competitive. With the rise of individualism and materialism, the ego is amplified further. When ego takes over, we are too focused on ourselves — and inevitably, anxiety, rumination, depression, and self-criticism follow. Collaborative efforts and the goodwill of our communities are undermined. The ego gives us an (often false) sense of being in control. What awe does is the exact opposite — reminding us that we are small, insignificant. We become more open to new ideas, to seeking new knowledge, to the strengths and virtues of other people. We are less susceptible to dogma, we are more rigorous and energized. We become more aware of how vast forces shape the courses of our lives. Awe empowers sacrifice, inspires us to give that most precious of resources, time. It makes us kinder, generous. The ego diminishes. Hostility towards others — narcissism, ignoring other people’s concerns, aggression, racism, bullying, incivility diminish. So does hostility towards ourselves — depression, anxiety, body image problems, self-harm, substance abuse, eating disorders, and so on. The ego diminishes in all its manifestations.
Awe and Children. One of my favorite parts of the book is the part where Keltner talks about children’s experiences. We all see how children react with awe and joy to regular things almost every day. That makes sense when you realize that many things are new to them. This is, Keltner notes, the key reason why children are almost always happier than adults. We have to be careful not to push awe out of our children’s lives. We need to ensure they experience free-form play, art, music, exploring, walks in nature, and a bit of chaos. Encourage open-ended questioning and discovery. We should not rush to explain everything — we can let their minds be in awe. Observe your children, try to notice what triggers feelings of awe, and have conversations about how they felt. Explore together.

Maybe one criticism I’d have is that I think Keltner could have engaged more deeply with the rich philosophical and religious traditions that have explored awe for centuries. The book focuses on psychology, and could have connected more meaningfully with thinkers like Spinoza or the Stoics, who wrote extensively on awe. A bit of a missed opportunity, which, nonetheless, does not diminish the value of the book.

Awe and Stoicism

One observation is that several of the points Keltner makes, in terms of what awe is and how it impacts us, have clear parallels with the recommendations of the Stoic philosophy and specific Stoic exercises:

Experience of awe makes us feel small and insignificant. This goes along nicely with the Stoic practice of looking at our problems from a distance, for example, the exercise of View from Above, where Stoics put things in perspective.
Awe shows us that we are not in control of most things in our lives. This is the dichotomy of control — a common theme in Stoicism, helping make us more humble. This is something you can detect in daily life, as well as when being confronted with the power of nature or vast forces, like historical events or time.
As our sense of self diminishes, we recognize that we are part of a bigger thing — family, community, culture, ecosystem. This concept is similar to sympatheia in Stoicism, which posits that everything in the universe is interconnected and that we are part of something larger.
Keltner encourages us to reflect on our mortality — this is precisely the Stoic concept of memento mori, which you can see throughout Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
Finding awe is about noticing things, about paying attention to little beautiful things all around us. Stoicism encourages just that — seeing the world like a poet and like an artist —realizing that beauty is easy to overlook, that it is a matter of the right attitude.

Truly, the ancients figured a lot a long time ago. Things it is taking us a lot of research to validate.

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Cultivate Awe Daily

To conclude, let’s talk about how we can practically introduce more awe into our lives. We don’t need Everest or the Northern Lights to feel awe — it’s present in daily life if we look closely. Here are a few ideas, mostly from the book:

Try recording instances of awe you come across — a bird’s flight, a kind gesture, a powerful line in a book, or an impressive demonstration of mastery of a skill.
Next time you go out for a walk, don’t just go through the motions; try an “awe walk” — walk slower than usual, pay attention to sights, sounds, and textures, as if you are seeing them for the first time.
Reduce the amount of technology in your life — technology is a proven method that progressively prevents us from detecting sources of awe around us.
Expose yourself to something unfamiliar — listen to music from another culture, read poetry outside your usual taste, or explore a new part of your city. Try a new “awe practice” every month, or even every week.
Try to change your perception of time — when feeling rushed, pause to notice something vast or beautiful — a horizon, an architectural marvel, or ocean view — and let yourself feel absorbed.
Be like children — look at things with fresh eyes, rediscover the world around you.

To conclude, awe is more than a fleeting feeling — it is a biological reset. It is a tool to widen our perspective. When we pause before the vastness and the power of nature, the courage and skill of others, the beauty of an idea, art, or music, we quiet down. We live with greater curiosity, humility, and connection. Our lives align with what truly matters.

Awe reminds us that the extraordinary is always within reach, often in the most ordinary moments of our lives.

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