• What, if anything, fills you with AWE, and a sense of wonder?

    And just to spell it out, I don't mean 'awesome' in the Bill and Ted sense. I'm talking ...when you see or hear something so amazeballz, your pupils dilate, and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you have to do a doubletake to check something so cool and profound really exists. It's OK if there's nothing, but I'd really like to know, because...

    ...I'm preoccupied with it. My contention is that younger people are more fussy when it comes to being awed by something, and olderz are awed too easily. Feel free to prove me wrong. But in general, is it the case that bigger things cause the most awe? I've seen nuclear subs in Barrow and been totally mesmerized ...ditto the airport ten minutes from where I live: I frequently almost crash my car at the sight of 747s and airbusses coming and going.

    And also, is it the case that we feel awed by things that just aren't human, or seem not be human? For example, you can write a good piece of music or a bad piece of music, but when I put my hi-fi on full blast and pump out, say, Holst the Planets, or John Barry's Dances with Wolves soundtrack, I always think, 'How can someone have just imagined that music, out of thin air?'

    It's why I'm so forgiving of religion, and why I think Richard Dawkins is such a bellend; whether something is true, or stupid, or dangerous, the very fact that it fills people with awe makes it very, very significant in my book ('My Gobshyne Ideas' by Indrid Cold, British Library serial no. 0091933730).

    So, then?

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  • @DIV Bille Eilish, eh? I'm going to a record shop this weekend, so I'll put her on me list.

    And yeah, you've made me feel like a right ingrate for not mentioning other people in my OP. People in general? Strange and wonderful. But ...surely it's needless to say that health workers and carers (specifically in the NHS) fill everyone with awe, right?


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  • @Karina-Kara I'll admit that I had you in mind when creating this post, KK. I've always suspected that your 'darkness' must be offset by some kinda wonder somehow. And it sounds like you were lucky, too. I saw a shooting star once, it was just a bland silvery colour.

    And FYI? Flying Saucers exist. My mam saw one in the infamous 'Warminster' hotspot. She was in the passenger seat of a car I was driving, but stayed quiet about it until we stopped, because she knew I'd be freaked out. Imagine that, eh?


  • @Indrid-Cold You @IhateFireFly


  • @WizzKidLizz i guess it's me who get more awed


  • @DIV said in What is it that fills you with AWE?:

    People are awesome (yes even the communists).

    Thanx, m8.


  • Scientists think that the plaque in the brains of AD sufferer's (formed by beta amyloid) may be caused by something called a prion. That is a folded (damaged) protein that can infect your immune system and teach it to clone others just like it. While studying it for a pharmaceutical solution they started to fear that this protein could also be transferred from a sufferer to non-sufferer via surgical equipment. Prions are extremely hard to clean off of such tools and it looks like this is going to force an entire new system of sterilization. This can also make me believe that it originated from food. What is very scary is that once this protein gets inside you, you will not know until decades later.


  • @Indrid-Cold I don't think the amount of people in awe has to do with any age or generation. I think it has to do with how aware you are of your reality. Typically, when in awe (or at least the awe you & I seem to think of, I think everyone experiences it differently) it is the amazement of somethings existance, it is the wonder of "How does this thing exist, it is beautiful, and It exists, I cant believe this was created and is now apart of my reality, the reality I know nothing of"
    That is how I experience awe anyway. And for me, it is with EVERYTHING.
    Literally EVERYTHING. I am in awe of inventions, the simplest of ones. When I look at my phone I am in awe that people were able to create it, I am able to communicate across this entire planet, I can see these little squares with colors on them and they look like me a couple years ago, theyre photos! I am in awe of photos. How is a camera able to take what I see and permanently keep it in storage? I don't even know how a light bulb works. A LIGHT BULB. IT IS PROBABLY THE SIMPLIEST OF INVENTIONS AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT WORKS. Yet they are everywhere, I have like 10 in my room right now and I use them everyday. How did we capture light? how did we create phones?
    what also puts me in awe is nature. Trees, birds, dogs! They're all so beautiful, they all live a life so similar to mine yet so different. The way they grow, think, and survive, its amazing!
    And space! GOSH FREAKING DARN SPACE IS AMAZING. IT IS SO BIG AND WE ARE SO SMALL AND THERE IS SO MUCH IN IT. THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON AT ALL TIMES. AND IT CREATED US IT EVOLVED US TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THESE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS, THESE MOVEMENTS, AND HAVE A BRAIN. OUR BRAIN ALSO PUTS ME IN AWE, IT DOES SO MUCH THINGS, THE READING THAT IM DOING AS I TYPE IS AMAZING. WE ARE ABLE TO SEE THESE SYMBOLS AND CREATE MEANING TO COMMUNICATE OH MY FUCKIING GOSH ALL OF LIFE IS AMAZING AND I AM IN AWE BY ALL OF IT
    sorry for writing a lot I really liked this topic because, in case you haven't noticed, I am in awe all the time. I probably spend 50% of my time being amazed by the world around me


  • @Indrid-Cold
    Noticing the uniqueness in every people awestrucks me.
    Someone's "darkness"; Your revelation of being an Author; Someone's extremely un-profane goodness; Someone's intricate knowledge about guns; Someone's acute, astute and immaculate description of their surroundings or culture; Someone's beautifully worded and researched posts once-in-a-while; Someone's poetic profile; Someone's amazingly bright optimistic face .... are some of the awestrucking things I have felt here.

    In the outside world? I'm awed by every footballing tricks someone performs that I'm not capable of, Every illusion of the eye someone pulls off in front of me, Every joke that makes me laugh like hell, Every star that shines bright at night, Every person who can talk to me without words, Every living form who's existence I don't understand, Every story that makes me intrigued and Every scientific theory that opens the world's possibilities to something more.
    I'm pretty awed person. :)

    (EDIT):- You know what? I take my effing words of Heath Ledger's Joker being hard to compete with back. He'll be a legend for sure, but just as you said on my post..... The method actor that he is, JOAQUIN PHOENIX has effing killed it. And I'm in awe of him and the character, just as Div said before. DAMN!


  • @Indrid-Cold
    Dear Rev. Cold,
    For me I like the simple things in life, the things that this exhistance brings us on a day to day basis, the things many see, but don't notice
    Regardless of coastline, city of out in the sticks the wonder that is both the sunrise and the sunset often blow my mind.
    One of the most amazing things I ever saw was overseas where sat on a balcony enjoying time with friends the setting sun slowly crept accross the sky .... suddenly it took a nose dive towards the horizon. It happened that quick you actually noticed it setting.

    I have posted here a number of times regarding another natural beauty .... this being the rainbow
    The fractured light passing through those glistening droplets ..... what a sight for saw eyes. A fantastic spectical of nature.

    Another thing I am oartial to, that will never cease to amaze me is the Solar Eclipse
    That perfect timing and positioning of that celestial satalite between that that brings and supports life and of course this rock we live.

    I could go on and on with the simple things in this life that fills me with awe and brings joy to most days But I will not for I fear I may have board you already with my love for the most simpelist of things.


  • @Indrid-Cold how nice ppl can be sometimes surprises me....maybe it's all about their mood :thinking_face:


  • @Wolfie_11 said in What is it that fills you with AWE?:

    You're right, Wolfman. I forgot to mention footie skills. It never fails to amaze me the fine line between a stupid foul and a perfect nutmeg, or any of that 'one touch / half touch' stuff. I'm not the biggest fan of, say, Alexis Sanchez or Oxade Chamberlain, but you've got to admit, they've got it down to an art.

    And here's the thing about Joaquin Pheonix; I can never never remember how stuff like 'The Master' or 'Buffalo Soldiers' actually end, but I know when I watch them, they'll feel like my favourite films just cos he's in them. And Gladiator? I want that film playing in my coffin, because I'll NEVER get bored of it.

    Every joke that makes me laugh like hell

    Why should you never buy your underpants in the Ukraine? Chernobyl fallout.


  • @DayShifter I couldn't have said it better myself. I once saw a double rainbow sitting in the valley of some mountains, and it looked exactly like some kinda sophisticated sci fi hologram ...and the sunsets... yes, mate. They're like those fancy hologram stickers you used to get in the 80's from Toys R Us, but free. 'Heliotropic'. Always puts me in mind of The Doors of Perception, where Aldous Huxley, stoned up on mescaline, just endlessly hypes up colours.


  • @TheGoldenMole GM, my man...I was about to say 'settle down', but why should I? Awe is the coolest thing. If you asked me when I was truly happiest in life, this would definitely be in my top ten: about twenty years ago, I'd finish work on a Friday night, and walking home, I'd get royally drunk by supping whiskey (I haven't done this for about a 15 years, though, because it wouldn't be as cool now that I'm driving). That's viz a viz nothing: I just thought I'd say it because your post reminded me of those GOOD TIMES*.

    *(Liquor is bad and sends you to hell).


  • @AuroraFan That's scary. It's almost like nature saying, 'oh, you guys are so wrapped up in the mind / brain debate, you're forgetting that the mechanisms and the chemistry of the brain are still everything.


  • @Indrid-Cold said in What is it that fills you with AWE?:

    @Wolfie_11 said in What is it that fills you with AWE?:

    It never fails to amaze me the fine line between a stupid foul and a perfect nutmeg, or any of that 'one touch / half touch' stuff.

    I know right.

    I'm not the biggest fan of, say, Alexis Sanchez or Oxade Chamberlain, but you've got to admit, they've got it down to an art.

    They sure do. Sanchez and Chamberlain are (were) fast and furious with both of ‘em capable of going and finishing a solo run.

    And here's the thing about Joaquin Pheonix; I can never never remember how stuff like 'The Master' or 'Buffalo Soldiers' actually end, but I know when I watch them, they'll feel like my favourite films just cos he's in them.

    I see.

    And Gladiator? I want that film playing in my coffin, because I'll NEVER get bored of it.

    Damn. Finally.... Someone who understands that we mortals are but shadows and dust. Its indeed a CLASSIC.

    Why should you never buy your underpants in the Ukraine? Chernobyl fallout.

    Uhm... Every joke that I understand and makes me laugh like hell? Also, the Chernobyl disaster makes me awestruck too. :)


  • @Indrid-Cold Only plant life can unlock protein straight from the Sun. Everything else rely's on 2nd hand protein. Dirty Protein. Used protein.


  • @AuroraFan And Superman. He gets his powers from the sun.


  • @Indrid-Cold Plant life actually gets glucose from the sun. The protein comes from nitrates. This may even give us a clue to what has gone wrong with the kind of protein we get.