Skip to content
quotesby

'Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine. ... to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe.'

Abraham Joshua Heschel#2

MeaningSpiritualityAweDivineMysteryTranscendence

About this quote

What does it mean?
Awe allows us to see that ordinary things reflect something greater and divine, connecting the everyday to the eternal.
In plain terms
Awe helps us feel that everything around us points to something holy and ultimate.
What can you take from it?
Look beyond surface details to find deeper meaning in everyday experiences.

Where it applies

  • meditation
  • nature walks
  • philosophical reflection

Putting it to work

  • daily gratitude practice
  • contemplative reading
  • mindful observation

Questions to consider

  • What mundane things make you feel awe?
  • How does awe change your view of the world?

Another view

This perspective may be hard to maintain in purely secular or materialistic frameworks.

More from Abraham Joshua Heschel

  1. 'One must forget many cliches in order to behold a single image. Insight is the beginning of perceptions to come rather than the extension of perceptions gone …

    Permalink to quote #1
  2. 'God is not a hypothesis derived from logical assumptions, but an immediate insight, self-evident as light. He is not something to be sought in the darkness wi…

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. 'He who is satisfied has never truly craved, and he who craves for the light of God neglects his ease for ardor.'

    Permalink to quote #4

Related quotes

  1. There is another world and it is in this one.

    Paul EluardPaul Eluard quote #8
  2. If I can find out God, then I shall find Him, If none can find Him, then I shall sleep soundly, Knowing how well on earth your love sufficed me, A lamp in dark…

    Sara TeasdaleSara Teasdale quote #26
  3. Though earth and moon were gone, And suns and universes ceased to be, And Thou wert left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee.

    Emily BronteEmily Bronte quote #33