Psalm 65

"You answer us in righteousness, with awe-inspiring works"

Awe is a hot topic right now in the field of positive psychology. Check out Dacher Keltner's book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life for a popular introduction to the science. 

One of the reasons for this interest, as you can tell from Keltner's subtitle, are the mental health benefits of wonder. As I describe in The Shape of Joy, psychologists have connected awe to the experience of a "small self." The "small self" is a humbler and more relational self that feels connected to and a part of a larger whole. As research has shown, the small self is associated with both well-being and ethical behavior. 

Keltner's research has identified eight locations where we experience "everyday wonder." Psalm 65 links two of them--spirituality and nature. The "awe-inspiring" works of God in Psalm 65 manifest in natural wonders:

You establish the mountains by your power;
you are robed with strength.
You silence the roar of the seas,
the roar of their waves,
and the tumult of the nations.
Those who live far away are awed by your signs;
you make east and west shout for joy.

You visit the earth and water it abundantly,
enriching it greatly.
God’s stream is filled with water,
for you prepare the earth in this way,
providing people with grain.
You soften it with showers and bless its growth,
soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges.
You crown the year with your goodness;
your carts overflow with plenty.
The wilderness pastures overflow,
and the hills are robed with joy.
The pastures are clothed with flocks
and the valleys covered with grain.
They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

What's fascinating about a prayer like this, stepping into its small self experience of wonder, is how, as the science has shown, such prayers promote psychological health and prosocial action. And yet one of the things I talk about in The Shape of Joy is how it would be a mistake to instrumentalize this prayer or the science of awe. As so often happens with our consumeristic approach to mental health, we try to turn awe into a life hack, a tool for self-actualization. But the experience of awe is, at root, an encounter with a reality that is bigger and other than your own. Awe is an experience of transcendence, and therefore cannot be commodified or put to use in our self-help projects. Thus the paradox I place before us in The Shape of Joy: transcendence is good for us, but we are increasingly becoming a people who no longer pray Psalm 65.