[MUSIC]
>> So the final question in
my last 6-7 minutes is why awe?
So what is awe?
It's the feeling of being around
vast mysteries that I don't understand.
It is really its own distinct state
about exploring and connecting.
How does awe work?
It really diminishes my self focus,
my anxieties and the like,
and it really gets me to explore
the world and to connect
to others and build community.
Why awe? And really,
there are a couple of ways that we
can think about this question.
The first is really the issue of resilience
that Jeff used very
wisely in the title of the symposium,
which is We Live in a Stressed Out Time.
The CDC is suggesting that levels of anxiety
and depression are 3-4 times their average.
Stress had been rising in
the United States for the past
25 years before COVID.
It is an inflamed time regrettably.
Vivek Murthy, our former Surgeon General,
has a wonderful book out suggesting that
the most important diseases in some sense,
of the 21st century,
are going to be diseases
of things like loneliness,
too much self focus.
That what he calls inflammation
or the elevation of
the parts of your immune system.
So our first answer to the question
of why awe is,
as you will sense in the today's proceedings,
awe is an antidote.
It's a way to change
these stresses and meless
of the 21st century.
So here's some awe facts
that you'll hear about.
Around the world, people feel
awe a couple of times a week.
There is everyday awe to be had.
As Jeff said, you
don't need to go to the Eiffel Tower,
you can find it around you.
And throughout these proceedings,
you will hear about how.
About three-quarters of our awe
experiences feel good.
They're rooted in
reward circuitry in your brain.
They elevate the vagus nerve,
which we study in our lab,
which helps you calm down,
find meaning, find strength.
We also know that feelings of awe,
about three-quarters of these
positive experiences
help you feel like you
have more time in life.
It reduces
inflammation in your immune system.
It makes you more open
to people, more collaborative.
You don't polarize as much.
You don't see those people on
the other political side as your adversaries.
You see some common ground,
a lot of positive benefits for awe.
And what you'll hear about is
all the ways in which little doses
of awe can help us with the stresses of life.
We just published a paper led by
Yang Bai and involving
some of the presenters
you'll hear from today.
We just had people find a little dose of
awe without paying a dime,
without emitting carbon into the atmosphere.
One of them was they just climbed
up to this tower on
the Berkeley campus and got
a beautiful view of the Bay Area,
220 feet high in the sky.
Just that five minutes of
taking in an expansive view led
students to
feel less stress in their daily lives,
less pressure, and to
have enhanced happiness.
This has been replicated in
all manner of studies.
Awe reduces the stresses
and difficulties of living.