Awe is an ingredient in any encounter with the nonrational, the mysterious, or the numinous. In a religious context, the radically “other” identified as the Divine is perhaps most pronounced in Judaism. The Hebrew words yirah (fear) or eymah (dread) express an emotion, awe, that denotes dread or terror inspired by the sacred—reverent fear or wonder, or fearful veneration.
There is nothing terrible or dreadful happening. Upon awakening, he is overcome by emotion at—awed by—the realization that this must be a holy place, for he feels the presence of God (Genesis 28:16). He is awed or frightened (yirah) by this nearness to the Divine, recognizing that such an encounter requires an act of obeisance. The appropriate response for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is to hallow the ordinary, so Jacob designates the spot as a sanctuary for prayer—a benign form of sacrifice—by erecting a pillar. Philosophers have long recognized the special connection between awe and devotion (hakdashah) in the Jewish tradition. The core part of the Amidah prayer contains the Kedushah, with the famous awe-inspiring phrase, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord our God, the whole world is full of God’s Glory” (Isaiah 6:3). Abraham, on the other hand, does not experience a serene encounter with the Divine in a peaceful sleep accompanied by angels, but rather the terror of a Divine command to take his son and offer him up for a human sacrifice. A surrender completely to the Divine presence is a precondition for awe.
Commentators have been fascinated by the connections among a whole litany of emotional states connected with awe. “Fear of God” is often connected to human inadequacy in relation to the Divine. God is perfect; humans, although created in the image of God, are not. During the appropriately named “Days of Awe,” the Jewish people approach the Divine with fear and trembling, expressing contrition and pleading for forgiveness. Believers in the Jewish faith understand that fear of heaven (yirat shamayim) is a deterrent to sin. One who fears the Lord will love the commandments and abstain from wrongdoing. These are the characteristics of a pious person, thus reaching beyond emotion to experience and character, making awe a value concept. The desire to do the right thing allows individuals to recognize shortcomings, thereby softening God’s heart and turning strict justice into compassion and mercy. God’s love for His creatures offers a second chance. This Divine compassion, expressed in forgiveness and mercy, moves the sinner toward gratitude and love, so that the believer is able to do what is right—this time not out of fear of punishment, but out of love (ahavah).
Judaism teaches that God created the world in love. Responding to God’s desire for partners, the faithful respond with an aspect of love called reverence. The Hebrew words yirah, (fear) as in reverence, or eymah, (dread) as in veneration, also denotes love—and for some rabbis, love and fear of God are one and the same. The Bible says, “What does the Lord your God require of you but to fear/revere (I’yirah) the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love (I’ahavah) Him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 10:12). For one who loves God, awe can be weighted toward wonder and amazement or toward dread and fear.
A very different, nonmoralistic view of awe embodies other feelings—perhaps not as dramatic as reverence and fear, but just as powerful and appreciative of God’s handiwork. One should only think of the miracle that is nature, whether in the heavens or on earth. Beholding the night sky and contemplating the miraculous and intricate system of the cosmos, moving along on a certain course, evokes awe—a sense of wonder and admiration for the force that created such a finely tuned network of stars and planets that seem to last for all time. Lesser Ury (1861-1931), a Jewish artist, expressed such awe for the universe in his monumental painting “Jeremiah” (1901). The figure of Jeremiah, a stark image in a dark cloak, is stretched out on a coarse and bare rock, his head cradled in his hand, looking up at the night sky, beholding the miracle that is the universe, awed by the grandeur of divine ingenuity. So different from Rembrandt’s “Jeremiah,” this is not exactly the prophet of doom that Jeremiah is so often depicted as. Or one may think of the mysterious cycles of nature— contemplating with amazement the wonder of the tree; a plant sprouting new leaves at the appropriate time, year after year; or the miracle of a human being.
Nineteenth-century philosophers on the cusp of the twentieth century criticized the strictly objective perspective of psychologists. But with the advent of depth psychology, psychologists began to show an interest in understanding aspects of emotions and feelings, including awe. Psychologists, in turn, complain that science does not interface with religion and vice versa. Yet there are those holistic thinkers who would say that Carl Sagan has done much to further humanity’s appreciation and understanding of the universe.
Not only have different disciplines opened a dialogue among themselves, but religions as well. All religions have instances of the mysterium tremendum and the numinous—that which is acknowledged with awe. The experience of awe can be a source of great strength to a person. Although the moment passes, the individual has been profoundly impacted, even changed. The afterglow of the experience remains with the person, buoying him or her spiritually so that everyday challenges become manageable and life a joy. Awe has taken its place not only in the world of religion and psychology, but also in the world of literature. Goethe’s Faust pays tribute to the power of awe in beholding eternity, as do such Romantic writers as William Blake in “Songs of Experience,” Samuel Taylor Coleridge in “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner,” William Wordsworth in “The Prelude,” and Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter, all singing the praises of the mystery, incomprehensibility, magnificence, and dread of that which awes, and for which ordinary mortals have no words.
