AND What if amazement was a cure? A therapy for bodies burdened with fatigue, for minds crumpled with anxiety? New studies are focusing on an emotion that had escaped the radar of research and is now referred to as a way to shake up lives worn down by banality and the petty evils of stress.
Gape in front of the spectacle of the world has a positive influence on mind and heart (photo Getty Images).
In the United States it is controversial Awe, Amazement precisely, the new essay by the psychologist Dacher Keltnerlecturer in Berkeley, California, and consultant of that jewel of Pixar which is the animated film Inside Out. Cultivating wonder, explains the author, leads to the essence of human nature. The Greek philosophers already said so. At the beginning of the Metaphysics, Aristotle takes up a reflection of Plato: “Men, both in our time and in the beginning, have taken the cue to philosophize from wonder”. Wonder, thauma, is the act that gives rise to knowledge. Keltner goes further.
In his book he writes that amazement is as fundamental to us as joy and love. The results of his investigations suggest that it instills calm and triggers the release of oxytocin, the so-called feel-good hormone. It may even indirectly strengthen the immune system.
“Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life” by Dacher Keltner
The science of wonder
It is not easy to measure the mix of perceptions that pervade us when we see a sunset, when a child takes its first steps or in front of the Sistine Chapel. Neither is it to put into words the effervescence that surges inside while witnessing a total solar eclipse or staring up at the fireworks display.
Until about ten years ago there was no science that tried to understand the roots of the state of mind on a biological level. What is amazement, one wonders, what is its charm. «It is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends our understanding of the world» replied Keltner al New York Times. “But it’s accessible to everyone and can be part of everyday life.” One should train to experience this universal breath not only looking for the unexpected but also looking at the spectacle that our planet offers us in the flowering of a bud and in the dawn, in the smile of our children and in the caresses of a mother.
A basic emotion
In 1972, six basic emotions were identifiedwhich induce the brain’s reaction to a stimulus and involve physiological responses such as the alteration of the heartbeat and a certain facial expression: they are joy, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise and anger. The amazement is missing, notes Keltner, “one thing apart” from the others, so much so that the same facial expression is different. “Wow” is the onomatopoeic voice from the comics to interpret it. According to the psychologist, part of its benefits can be explained because it activates the vagus nerve, which slows down the heart rate, relaxes breathing and can induce a good mood.
The vagus nerve is activated
A parenthesis is a must. In recent years, the vagus nerve has become an object of worship, especially on social media: its fibers, which go from the brain to the belly, have been consecrated as the key to providing relaxation. On TikTok, with the hashtag #vagusnerve they bill themselves as good stimulation ranging from face dips in ice cold water to ear massages.
It is true that some studies have tested possible effects in the treatment of depression, but the theories need to be explored and there is no scientific evidence on applications to stimulate the cranial nerve. Better wonder, which apparently works as a natural stimulus of the vagus.
Instills calm
Astonishment also seems to act on another front, as shown by a Japanese research (published in emotion), who used functional magnetic resonance on volunteers: it deactivates certain areas of the left temporal lobe, the part of the cortex involved in how we perceive ourselves.
For Keltner, it would be like a psychological balm, because it would go to appease the negative inner dialogue that sometimes haunts us, the critical voice in the head who repeats to us how we are not good enough in choices, at the table, at work, as a couple. Ultimately, amazement causes a lack of concern for oneself. We are so attracted by an external event that we get out of our heads and immerse ourselves in a larger context. And it is by opening the mind that thought sharpens and is oriented towards new ideas. The thirst for knowledge is the desire to wonder. It is living in the metaphor of Ulysses.
Medicine for the passing of time
«Curiosity, not wisdom, transforms the human being» said Carlo Rubbia, Nobel Prize in Physics. «I still search within myself the naive amazement of childhood. It is in the child that we see the spark of curiosity, in the child who breaks the toy because he wants to know what it is like.’
Conversely, “old age will essentially mean the end of wonder in us” as Natalia Ginzburg wrote. “We will lose the ability both to amaze ourselves and to amaze others. […] The inability to be astonished and the awareness of not arousing astonishment will ensure that we will gradually enter the realm of boredom». The best medicine for the passing of time is to keep alive that little boy Giovanni Pascoli was talking aboutthat little ego that remains within us and that «holds its ancient serene marvel fixed».
How to train for amazement
Amazement can be triggered by a work of art, such as a film or the Mona Lisa, by the beauty of nature, by being amazed by looking at someone you love, or by witnessing an act of kindness. The extraordinary or the usual seen with different eyes. There is also a dark side that can move us, creepy videos or threatening scenes, but scientific studies emphasize emotion that has positive causes. Psychology doesn’t have a recipe that can keep the relationship with wonder alive.
In order to be enraptured, the desire to admire and then to fathom one’s perceptions is essential, admire a painting and ask yourself what inspires us, contemplate and return to yourself. If we observe ourselves from a distance in amazement, we will discover that the very fact of wondering is a wonder.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and science popularizer. On iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you can find her podcast series The good that I want. GO TO THE PODCAST
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