Love: You know it when you feel it. Your heart feels like it’s surging, pumping on all cylinders, ALIVE.
Awe: You know it when you feel it. It’s what happens when you’re in the presence of a larger-than-life personality, someone so awe-inspiring that you’re totally overwhelmed, dumbstruck.
Awe is thrilling, but not in the same way as love. With awe, you're not in 'expansion mode'. You're not on fire. You don't feel like your heart is leaping out of your chest cavity. To the contrary, awe makes you emotionally stand back - shrinking - to make way for the awesome experience.
Think about how you felt when you saw your baby for the first time: Did you automatically reach out in love? Or did the sight make you pause in wonder, taking your breath away? That’s awe.
Awe is an emotional force that blows away your normal ego posture, that "I'm the center of the universe" attitude and creates a wide psychological berth for the object of your wonder.
So Awe and Love are two very different emotions, one expanding the sense of self and the other diminishing it, yet they work best in tandem.
Imagine if you took the opportunity to feel the wonder, the marvel of a loved one, before allowing the love to flow? With your ego mindset relaxed, your love can be so much more powerful.
Awe is a love multiplier. If love is deep connectedness, this combination gets you there.
This helps us understand Judaism’s two-pronged approach to forging a healthy relationship with G-d:
First, we put life on pause, contemplate the universe’s majesty, nature’s complexity and the miracle of the human body. We stand back in wonder at G-d’s creation.
One you've felt Creation’s majesty, you've made space within yourself; now you can begin to generate love and closeness.
An effective way is to consider your blessings. If you're reading this, you have the blessings of life and cognition. Contemplate those blessings and work forward; think about your life and its beauty. Thank G-d for giving you what you have.
You'll feel closer.
Our relationships, beginning with our relationship with G-d, is the stuff of life. They deserve work and mental exercise to make them the best they can be.
Awe and Love are the wings that can make them soar.