A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout their life.  — Rachel Carson

The evening sky in January 2025 has been putting on quite a show with Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all parading in alignment (see viewing guide). The other day, my daughter and I went over to a friend's front yard to view the planets through his telescope. We saw the rings of Saturn, Jupiter (including the surface formations which is pretty amazing to see), three of Jupiter's moons, and the constellation Pleiades. My favorite, however, was the Horsehead Nebula in the Orion constellation, a cloud of gas and dust some 1,500 light years away from us (seen in the picture above taken through the telescope).Â
Consider this. Our sun was birthed in a similar star nursery some 4.6 billion years ago, followed by the formation of the planets from the leftover gas and dust after the star's formation. The earth appeared approximately 4.5 billion years ago and over some more years of its evolution, conditions favorable for life appeared. The first life forms appeared 3.5 million years ago, the first hominids about 2 million years ago, and the first homo sapiens (us!) about 300,000 years ago. To think that human consciousness has evolved to be able to look deep into space and far back in time with instruments such as a telescope and ask questions about the universe and our origins is truly awe inspiring. There's nothing like looking at the sky to awaken awe and wonder!Â
Dasher Keltner, a researcher of awe, writes and speaks of this unique human capacity to experience wonder and beauty. Here's a wonderful conversation between him and Krista Tippett on the On Being podcast. My Guru, Nitya Chaitanya Yati said, "When you are attracted towards the beautiful, that thing by itself has no power to attract you if you are not already alive to the quality you see in it. Before you see beauty in something, there must be within you an idea of beauty, a power to see it, and a love for it. The occasion only awakens that dormant sense of beauty in you."Â For me, awe and a sense of beauty are easiest to access in moments of presence. We need to slow down enough to be able to fully take in our experience. Even the simplest of things can become a source of amazement in these moments.
It turns out, according to Keltner's research, that feeling awe and wonder is really good for us humans. It calms and heals, strengthens the immune system, improves digestion and promotes cardiovascular health. Best of all, it helps us connect with a larger sense of mutual belonging and caring for others and our precious life on this planet. Let's cultivate presence and take some time for awe!Â
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