lyrics in, 156
religion and, 151
sacred, 158
singing, 158
synchrony and, 146, 152–53, 159, 246, 282n
and tool development in hominids, 282n
musicians, 111
Muslims, 209
mystery, 124–25
mystical awe, see spiritual and religious awe
N
Nabokov, Vladimir, 51
Napoleon, 186
narcissism, 133, 134
Narmada River, 218
NASA, 280n
nature, 9, 13–14, 18, 25, 38, 40, 117–41, 242, 245–47
beauty in, 125, 126, 137, 196–97
brain and, 36
Divine in, 136–41
mean egotism and, 133–36
mystical awe and, 197–98
need for, 125–28
neurophysiology and, 127
rafting in, 129–32
religion and, 137
sacred geometries of, 173, 176–77, 275n
self in relation to, 33–35
strange sympathies and, 121–25
walking in, 127–29
wonder and, 231–32
Nature (Emerson), 133
Natyashastra, 114–15, 187
Nausea (Sartre), 54
near-death experiences (NDEs), 234–35
nekyia, 208
nesting, 227
New Jim Crow, The (Alexander), 70
Newton, Isaac, 39, 55
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 199
Nhat Hanh, Thich, 233
Niebuhr, Reinhold, 194
Nightingale, Florence, 276n
Nisbett, Richard, 294n
nitrous oxide, 200, 201
Nixon, Richard, 51
O
Oatley, Keith, 257n
objects, sacred, 85
obstacles, overcoming, 77
Odyssey (Homer), 46, 208
Oedipus Rex (Sophocles), 59
Olympics, 110
om, 158, 203
100 Faces (Kiyochika), 238
On the Origin of Species (Darwin), 239, 241–42
openness, 214
Operation Desert Storm, 184–85
opioid system, 200
other people, wonders of, 74–79, 83
outdoors, see nature
overcoming obstacles, 77
overview effect, 36
oxytocin, 54, 126, 146, 226, 249
P
Pandya, Trupti and Swara, 217–18
Paris, 285n
Parker, Charlie, 148
Patel, Jayesh, 218
pedestrians, 103
Pelican Bay State Prison, 89–90
Pentecostal Christianity, 115
Pettersson, Otto, 232
peyote, 211
Philadelphia Orchestra, 146, 162
Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, The (Burke), 178
physics, 204
phytoncides, 127
Picasso, Pablo, 180
picnics, 96
Piff, Paul, 41, 134
piloerection, 42, 53–54
Pissarro, Camille, 179
Pittsburgh Steelers, 112–13
Pixar, 167–68
Planet Earth, 41, 136
plants, 127, 278n
Plato, 63–64
poetry and literature, 51, 59–63, 77
police brutality, 136
political elections, 46–47
political polarization, 135–36
Pollan, Michael, 32
Popovich, Gregg, 108
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A (Joyce), 243
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 130, 131
poverty, 130
Power of Ritual, The (ter Kuile), 289n
Prelude, The (Wordsworth), 139, 140
presidential election of 2016, 47
processes, 245
psilocybin, 32, 37, 211, 214
psychedelic experiences, 9, 32–33, 37, 181, 211–16
Pythagoras, 153
Q
qualities, 246
quantum physics, 204
Qur’an, 158
R
racism, 82, 133
rafting, 129–32
Raging Bull, 180
rainbows, 39, 55
Ramos, Leda, 187–88, 190
rap, 281n
rasas, 116
Ratatouille, 167
“Ray of Light, A” (Hass), 80–81
Reagan, Ronald, 217
Rear Window, 267n
reasoning, biases in, 136
Reeves, Keanu, 168
rejection, 96, 117, 118, 274n
religion, 9, 11, 85, 110, 114, 122, 194, 195, 201, 210, 247, 249
collective effervescence and, 13, 97
composting, 195–96, 199, 211, 216, 244, 246
music and, 151
nature and, 137
Pentecostal Christianity, 115
scientific studies of, 202
use of word, 287n
see also spiritual and religious awe
Rembrandt, 180
Remote Associates Test, 135
Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, 285n
Requiem (Mozart), 153–54, 156
restorative justice (RJ), 69–70, 87–88, 90
Revelations of Divine Love (Julian of Norwich), 31
reverence, 83–86, 90, 209
Rich and Poor (Goldberg), 181
Ríos Montt, Efraín, 188
risk perception, 50
ritualization, 58–59
rituals and ceremonies, 101–4
Rivera, Diego, 188
river rafting, 129–32
Rodin, Auguste, 24, 150
Rodin Museum, 150
Romanticism, 64, 122–23, 136, 147
Roosevelt, Theodore, 33
Rothko, Mark, 181
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 64, 121–22
Rozin, Paul, 288–89n
Rue Montorgueil with Flags (Monet), 180
S
Sabarmati River, 217
sacred geometries, 172–78, 209, 244, 275n
sacred objects, 85
sacred sound, 158, 203, 209
Saddam Hussein, 185
saintly tendencies, 40–41, 98, 158
art and, 183–84
St. Patrick’s Day, 103
salat, 209
Salgado, Sebastião, 176
salt march, 216, 246
San Quentin News, 87
San Quentin State Prison, 69–74, 87–91
Sarandon, Susan, 87
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 54
Saussure, Horace Bénédict de, 138
scents, 126, 127, 178, 179, 285n
Scheherazade.2 (Adams), 162–64
Scherer, Klaus, 156–57, 256n
Schindler’s List, 191
science, xv, xvi, 121–23
of aesthetics, 179
of awe, xiv, xvi, xviii, xxiii, 20–26
of chills, 52
of emotions, 3–7, 19–20, 22, 237–38, 260n
quantum physics, 204
of tears, 46
wonder and, 37–39
Scorsese, Martin, 180
Scott, Louis, 86–92, 243
self, 6, 25
and control over one’s life, 35, 40
default, see default self and mind
drawings of, 33–34
mirroring and, 99
nature and, 33–35
something larger than, 31–37, 52, 98, 209, 243, 244, 285n
things and people outside of, xxiii, 6, 31–37, 125, 153
vanishing, 32–38, 107, 139, 174, 215
and vast forces shaping one’s life, 35–37, 40
self-transcendence, 28
semantic space, 22
sensory systems, 249
September 11 attacks, 185
Serra Pelada gold mine, 176
Shakespeare, William, 59–60, 64, 79
Shakur, Tupac, 71
shamanism, 183
shared awareness, 100
shared representations of reality, 100–101
shared substance, 137
sharing, 46, 64
Shelley, Mary, 122
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 64, 123
Shiota, Michelle, 35
shivers, 52–54
Sierra Club, 129
Singer, Peter, 40
singing, 158
chanting, 14, 158, 183, 209, 258n