A recording from the final mainstage session of the Clinton Global Initiative’s 2023 meeting. Themed around curiosity, wonder, and awe, this session features presentations by researchers on awe: Lani Shiota, Dacher Keltner and others.

One of the most fascinating developments of the current time is that human qualities once understood in terms of virtue–experiences called spiritual–are now being taken seriously by science as intelligence as elements of human wholeness. Dacher Keltner and his Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley have been pivotal in this emergence. From the earliest years of his career, he investigated how emotions are coded in the muscles of human faces, and how they serve as “moral sensory systems.” All of this, as Dacher sees it now, led him deeper and deeper into investigating the primary experience of awe in human life–moments when a person has a sense of wonder, an experience of mystery, that transcends their understanding. These, it turns out, are as common in human life globally as they are measurably health-giving and immunity-boosting. They bring people together with others, again and again. They bring one’s nervous system and heartbeat and breath into sync, and even into sync with other bodies around them.

In a time of personal heartbreak and sickness, author and journalist Julia Baird took-up ocean swimming and found that the connection to nature provided an incredible capacity to heal and to calm. Blending science research and personal experience, in this talk Julia makes a case for the importance of experiencing awe and wonder, and the transformative effects of feeling small.

This video is from the Awe & Resilience Symposium, a partnership between the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). In this video, Dacher Keltner (Co-Director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley) provides the keynote address. Prior to his presentation, NYPD Police Commissioner and John Mann (CUMC) provides welcoming remarks. Following the keynote, expert panelists Chief Kristen Ziman (Chief of Police, Aurora, Illinois) and Linda Rosenberg, MSW (CUMC Department of Psychiatry Director of External Relations and former President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council for Behavioral Health) provide their insight on the keynote presentation and ask Dacher Keltner (Co-Director of the Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley) for further information.

This video is from the Awe & Resilience Symposium, a partnership between the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) with the New York City Police Department (NYPD). In this video, Michelle “Lani” Shiota (Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University) and Jennifer Stellar (Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto–Mississauga) provide presentations on their awe research. Following the presentations, expert panelists Neil Gang, Chief of Police, Pinole (CA) Police Department and Randy P. Auerbach, Co-Director, Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression (CUMC) provide their insight on the research shared and ask the presenters for further information.

As the only filmmaker in the world who has been shooting time-lapse continuously, for over four decades, Louie Schwartzberg has perfected the art of shifting time and scale to bring our attention (and appreciation) to the natural world. His most recent film, Fantastic Fungi, is narrated by Brie Larson and explores the secrets of the mycelial network. Filmmaker and advocate for the natural world, Louie Schwartzberg tells stories that celebrate life and reveal the mysteries and wisdom of nature, people and places, by taking us into worlds that are invisible to the human eye. His greatest satisfaction comes from creating works that have a positive effect on the future of the planet.

From Louie Schwartzberg and Moving Art—a Podcast bridging the realms of art and science through the stories and ideas that Louie has shared for decades. Wonder & Awe sets the stage as Louie hosts a conversation about our natural world featuring guests from the world of art and from the world of science. Listen to the trailer here.

A panel discussion on the power of awe from the Wisdom 2.0 2019 conference in San Francisco.

Why do science? Why explore the world? In this inspiring short film, scientists describe how their fascination with the beauty and complexity of nature informs their vocations, and how their observations of the natural world cause them to reflect on the bigger questions of life. Exploration of the world evokes a sense of awe and wonder for these men and women, and this emotional response to nature often leads to an exciting journey of scientific discovery. The scientists discuss the way in which problems and failures spur better science, and how one of the great joys of science is to explore the questions and puzzles inherent in the world around us. This video was produced by the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program as a part of its Science for Seminaries project.

Wonder and awe bring people into the present moment, connecting them with the divine, and possesses the power to inspire and heal. Louie Schwartzberg reconnects viewers with their human birthright: an innate spiritual resonance with visions of wonder and awe in the natural world. Schwartzberg is a cinematographer, director, and producer whose notable career spans more than four decades providing breathtaking imagery using his time-lapse, high-speed and macro cinematography techniques. Louie’s recent theatrical releases include Mysteries of the Unseen World (IMAX) with National Geographic, narrated by Forest Whitaker, and Wings of Life for Disneynature, narrated by Meryl Streep.