Heroes Not Zombies

In Dacher Keltner’s excellent book on awe, he reports how he and his team of researchers gathered personal descriptions of moments of awe from thousands of people around the world. When they analysed the stories they found that they could fit into about eight categories, which he calls “the eight wonders of life”.

The commonest one was “moral beauty” – witnessing courage, kindness or strength. Next were “collective effervescence”, “nature”, and “music”. I certainly recognise many experiences of all of those. The next one is “visual design”. I wasn’t completely sure what to make of that. I do love art. I love sculpture, especially in natural, or urban environments, but I wasn’t sure that architecture or interior design would be likely to give me an experience of awe.

Well, when I walked into this church in Palermo, Sicily, and the Sun cast an intensely bright light through the domed windows in the roof, I got it. Everything from the detailing of the various colours of marble on the floor, to the vast frescos, combined with the sheer volume of the place with its massive pillars, but the shafts of sunlight really did it for me. What a genius design. What an incredible effect. What a moment of awe.