Use awe to reconnect with something larger than yourself
When awe makes the self feel small, follow the natural impulse toward belonging — toward community, nature, or humanity at large.
Key takeaways
- What it is: When awe makes the self feel small, follow the natural impulse toward belonging — toward community, nature, or humanity at large.
- Why it works: The small-self effect produced by awe does not leave a vacuum — it creates a temporary permeability between the self and its context. This openness predicts prosocial behavior, increased identification with larger groups (humanity, nature, the cosmos), and decreased in-group/out-group bias. Following the impulse deliberately — reaching toward what you feel part of during an awe state — amplifies and extends the prosocial and meaning effects.
- Evidence: Backed by randomized trials / meta-analyses.
- Avoid: Intellectualizing the awe experience immediately ("interesting, what does neuroscience say about that?") — analysis re-engages the analytical self, ending the belonging window.
Why it works
The small-self effect produced by awe does not leave a vacuum — it creates a temporary permeability between the self and its context. This openness predicts prosocial behavior, increased identification with larger groups (humanity, nature, the cosmos), and decreased in-group/out-group bias. Following the impulse deliberately — reaching toward what you feel part of during an awe state — amplifies and extends the prosocial and meaning effects.
How to do it
- 1After an awe experience, rather than immediately returning to the personal self-narrative, ask: "What am I part of right now?"
- 2Follow any impulse toward connection — reach out to someone, take in the environment, reflect on being part of a longer human story.
- 3Avoid rushing to translate the experience into practical outcomes; let the belonging orientation last for at least a few minutes.
What the evidence says
RCT / meta-analysisAwe’s effects on collective identity are well-documented experimentally: Piff et al. (2015) found awe increased ethical decision-making and generosity, consistent with greater identification with collective rather than individual interest.
Honest caveat: The deliberate practice of following the awe impulse toward belonging is a practitioner extension; the prosocial effects themselves are experimentally established.
- — Piff et al. (2015), "Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Common mistake
Intellectualizing the awe experience immediately ("interesting, what does neuroscience say about that?") — analysis re-engages the analytical self, ending the belonging window.
IX Coach includes a post-awe "belonging" prompt — "what or who do you feel connected to right now?" — to extend the prosocial and meaning effects before they fade.
Practice this with IX Coach →