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Awe
According to Matthew Huston, he claimed that awesomeness is the quality of being extremely impressed with the quality of life. Awe is a process that involves activating the behavioral actions relating to environmental issues that make people happy and appreciative. In a religious context, belief is a factor that triggers awesomeness since people are proud of their spirituality, a mechanism that helps in overcoming fear and distress. Some uncertainties result in negative biases lowering awe of an individual, such as death occurrence of a loved one that makes people question a lot about what is happening around their lives. The ability to encounter positivity in life triggers happy emotions that enable people to practice their religious and spiritual awe. According to research, investigators claim that religious/ spiritual feelings result from the pro-social interaction that determines individuals’ behavior. Further studies indicate that with more salient ethical norms and expectations, people express their religious awesomeness. Not only do people reflect their awesomeness in religious sectors only, but also in other fields that involve expressing personal emotions. Therefore, I agree with Mathew Huston’s statement that “Awesomeness is everything.” because it makes people more spiritual, generous towards the world, encourages cultural learning, and helps in decision making.
Physiological sciences report that awe drives individuals in making decisions in all dimensions of life, which at times, choices may be positive or negative depending on the current situation. The research argues that most people who feel awe are more concerned with their emotions and more patient with activities. They tend to participate more in helping society increase their satisfaction rather than seek material wealth. According to Edmund Burke, individuals’ decision results in providing natural rights to the community (Keltner and Haidt 298). He argued that the rights gained result from a social framework that involves interaction between people, therefore, supporting Matthew’s statement about awesomeness. The ability to enjoy natural rights creates a sense of belonging, encouraging happiness. Both philosophers based their arguments on religious context, claiming the importance of observing beliefs as a form of building awe. The philosophers based their work on identifying the social manners that make people behave the way they do. Despite the world revolution that changes people’s lifestyles, awe remains to define people. Awesomeness is everything because it helps in making better decisions in life. However, there is no truth that all people are defined by awe as different characters can be used to define people.
The feeling of awe results in individuals’ well-being because it participates in the process of decision making. The impression one possesses results in better decisions that enhance individuals’ well-being if the right choices are made. There are possibilities of people making the right decisions within a short time since it depends on the level of thinking to solve a particular issue making awe less useful. Rudd et al., contradict the information claiming that the majority who possess awesomeness feeling spend enough time thinking about appropriate decisions to make considering the future consequences (1132). However, those who lack awesomeness spend less time thinking about the future repercussions ending up making wrong decisions. Three experiments were conducted to determine the people’s experiences and daily activities that drive them to make decisions. The first test involved estimating the time spent making decisions. The other analysis bases on identifying the societal activities most people with awe feeling individual carry out. The last experiment bases on estimating how best people make their wise decisions a reason behind their success. According to the responses, individuals with awe feelings tend to spend more time in deciding what is right or wrong because they base their perspectives on future consequences. Thus most eliminate the disadvantageous factors risky in the future (Hutson 127). Choices are linked to the well-being of individuals where the right decisions result in safety and satisfaction. Based on the second experiment, people with awe feel they spend most of their time participating in community services, helping the needy because their actions make them feel satisfied. Therefore, determining the time spent in decision making results from awesomeness feeling.
According to Van Cappellen, and Saroglou, spiritual feelings factors in activating religious beliefs because of the existence of present positive emotions that drive people to accept and appreciate their beliefs. Thus, people should be keen on their spiritual feelings to easily control their emotions. Van conducted two experiments to estimate the religious feelings that emerge to people with awe (229). The first experiment investigated individuals awe from their previous events to determine which best response to people’s behavior. The second experiment is based on using clips, on deciding the aspect where most participants lie. According to the answers offered, the majority revolve their stories on religious contexts claiming that God is the creator of everything; hence their awe lies behind the creation context. As a result, people behave the way they do because their spiritual beliefs impress their feelings; thus, they make more effort to activate their religions to satisfy their preferences (Van Cappellen, and Saroglou 234). According to the experiments, the majority have positive emotions where most try to avoid negative experiences resulting in their behavioral expressions. The spiritual feelings result from believing that life is meaningful, thus increasing the religious awe people have. Positive awe is a motivation factor that encourages social interaction.
Experiencing greatness make people more spiritual and generous towards the earth. According to Matthew, the ability to experience greatness and success increases people’s view of the world and reduces their ego. The process makes people mode determined in creating change that increases their awesomeness, which requires spirituality to make the process a success. As a result, awe encourages oneness that makes people generous to one another and the environment (Razavi et al. 1100). Contrastingly, experiencing success may increase the ego level as people think highly of themselves; therefore, awe is no assurance that all people become generous of one another. However, environmental factors determine the level of awe people feel. For instance, residents in more developed areas feel more awe than those in undeveloped countries because they have more experience dealing with life situations that result in positive behavior. Once an individual action succeeds, their experience boosts beliefs with the expectation that more hard work would reward them positively. From the experience astronauts have about the world, they report that people interconnect with the earth, which drives people in taking care of the environment.
Due to interaction, awesomeness results in identifying cultural similarities and differences. Learning other cultures is determined by vastness where urbanization brings people of different communities together, resulting in changing mentality to accommodate changes that occur. According to Razavi, the field of study that deals with emotions identified that dispositional awe is more linked to creativity and learning more of the behavioral factors (1099). Creativity enables one to learn more about different issues, accept and appreciate what nature offers. Dispositional awe motivates people to interact with one another, a factor contributing to learning more cultures. Therefore, people can easily differentiate their values with those of other communities while identifying common similarities. Interaction between different communities creates a state of belonging once people identify themselves with the categories they best fit. Razavi research reported that the US records a higher mean grade of dispositional awe compared to Iran because of varying means of extraversion, but his information appears skeptical because interaction does not always mean learning more about culture (1099). However, the United States settlers are advantaged in learning more about different cultures hence an important character to consider despite the few disadvantages.
In summary, the awesomeness character is an essential factor in determining the quality of life people experiences. It is based on identifying the religious and spiritual factors that shape people’s behavior. Awe lowers ego making people more generous in helping one another hence encouraging self-development. Possessing awe quality characterizes individuals in practicing virtues that lead to satisfaction. Matthew Huston argued that awesomeness drives every action that people perform. The impacts of awesomeness results in boosting religious and spiritual beliefs when aiming for greatness. This is because people identify, appreciate, and utilize the factors that positive results in their development. Furthermore, awe enables people to make the right decisions depending on the current situations, a source of seeking satisfaction. Better decisions result in a state of well-being as one can eliminate distress. It also offers an opportunity for people to learn more about other cultures by comparing their beliefs. In my opinion, I agree with Huston’s statement, “awesomeness is everything” because of the impacts it brings to people’s lives. Adopting awe characters enables people to overcome life situations, which cannot be predicted; hence the quality acts a guide. Apart from using awe in determining the religious, spiritual aspects, the quality can also be used in dealing with other life emotions.
Works Cited
Hutson, Matt. The 7 Laws Of Magical Thinking. Plume, 2013, pp. 120-136.
Keltner, Dacher, and Jonathan Haidt. “Approaching Awe, A Moral, Spiritual, And Aesthetic Emotion”. Cognition And Emotion, vol 17, no. 2, 2003, pp. 297-314. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/02699930302297. Accessed 18 Aug 2020.
Razavi, Pooya et al. “Cross-Cultural Similarities And Differences In The Experience Of Awe.”. Emotion, vol 16, no. 8, 2016, pp. 1097-1101. American Psychological Association (APA), doi:10.1037/emo0000225. Accessed 18 Aug 2020.
Rudd, Melanie et al. “Awe Expands People’S Perception Of Time, Alters Decision Making, And Enhances Well-Being”. Psychological Science, vol 23, no. 10, 2012, pp. 1130-1136. SAGE Publications, doi:10.1177/0956797612438731. Accessed 18 Aug 2020.
Van Cappellen, Patty, and Vassilis Saroglou. “Awe Activates Religious And Spiritual Feelings And Behavioral Intentions.”. Psychology Of Religion And Spirituality, vol 4, no. 3, 2012, pp. 223-236. American Psychological Association (APA), doi:10.1037/a0025986. Accessed 18 Aug 2020.