> A final, more pleasurable step you can take to increase your intellectual humility comes in the form of deliberately invoking in oneself the emotion of awe. Several studies have shown that awe quietens the ego and prompts epistemological openness – that is, a greater willingness to look at things differently and to recognise the gaps in one’s knowledge.
If you cannot remember the last time you experienced awe, I highly recommend seeking it out. It may be important for fostering intellectual humility, but it seems just as important for fostering a better outlook/framing on life in general and brings with it a sense of wellbeing.
After burning out and starting a sabbatical last year, I went on a road trip that provided many moments of awe: a snowy mountain sunrise in the Rockies, the Milky Way in one of the darkest spots in Utah, long hikes through the redwoods, etc.
What struck me was that I had forgotten what these feelings felt like, and that I hadn’t felt them since I was a kid.
Glimpsing them reminded me how important they are, and I’m convinced that sustainability in future work endeavors (and life in general) involves an appropriate dose of awe and wonder on an ongoing basis.
Road trips into the desert aren’t necessary to experience this either (for me anyway) - just a very effective way to guarantee the experience (again, for me). But I can find it by pondering the bigger questions about life and the sheer improbability of our existence. Dedicating some regular time to this kind of reflection has been beneficial.
And I do find that I’m more open to possibilities. But that seems like just one of the outcomes from the “nourishment” of these experiences.
> If you cannot remember the last time you experienced awe, I highly recommend seeking it out
The older I get, the more I appreciate the sheer vastness of space and the amount of stuff in it, and contrasting the size of it to our little pale blue dot. The Nihilists will say our time here is all meaningless and we'll eventually be swallowed by the Sun if we don't go star faring. We better get our act together in terms of space travel before it's too late.
We need to think long-term and occupy Mars, then taken to its logical conclusion: Von Neumann machines which populate our galaxy. That's if we're not sucked into the black hole in the center of our galaxy. But at least we gave it a shot. We outsmarted the natural cycles of the solar system and transcended it, possibly building a Dyson sphere around the Sun and then hopped to other star systems and built Dyson spheres around them.
When I was young, I knew the Universe was very big. But over the years, helped by various documentaries, YouTube videos, and various psychedelics, I surmised we are destined for something much more than mere Earth. Our spirit cries for space travel, yet at the same time it's hampered by the rape of the planet and late-stage capitalism and 'infinite growth' at all costs.
Going to the stars at all costs is similarly destructive.
This galaxy won't last forever. Even this expanse may collapse and be reborn. If matter is eternal then life will probably arise again. So relax, enjoy the ride, and do what you can to leave the place better than you found it.
It is one of those things where one can exist in a simultaneous state of being involved with the works of the world and planning for the future and realizing that it is all but an act and that on the grand scheme we are but dust.
You can also get awe in some of the more simple things of life, the full moon on a clear night or the swirl of leaves in a stream. Those are really cool.
I took a walk last night to look at the sunset, and felt a strong feeling of both awe and melancholy as I did so.
Is it really so rare to be awed by natural beauty, or just humbled by where one is in life relative to oneself in the past, and others (both more and less fortunate) in the present?
When I think of friends made, friends not present, and all of the life trajectories that I can keep track of, I feel it’s all just a long and strange trip, man.
Cheap telescopes do this for me :) I usually get them whenever I move places, nothing fancy or special, just something to star into the void and be struck with wonder.
If you cannot remember the last time you experienced awe, I highly recommend seeking it out. It may be important for fostering intellectual humility, but it seems just as important for fostering a better outlook/framing on life in general and brings with it a sense of wellbeing.
After burning out and starting a sabbatical last year, I went on a road trip that provided many moments of awe: a snowy mountain sunrise in the Rockies, the Milky Way in one of the darkest spots in Utah, long hikes through the redwoods, etc.
What struck me was that I had forgotten what these feelings felt like, and that I hadn’t felt them since I was a kid.
Glimpsing them reminded me how important they are, and I’m convinced that sustainability in future work endeavors (and life in general) involves an appropriate dose of awe and wonder on an ongoing basis.
Road trips into the desert aren’t necessary to experience this either (for me anyway) - just a very effective way to guarantee the experience (again, for me). But I can find it by pondering the bigger questions about life and the sheer improbability of our existence. Dedicating some regular time to this kind of reflection has been beneficial.
And I do find that I’m more open to possibilities. But that seems like just one of the outcomes from the “nourishment” of these experiences.