Continuing to be amazed, some experts say, is the best antiaging therapy. But...what amazes us now? Several books and hundreds of researchers are trying to open the treasure chest. Katrin Sandberg and Sara Hammarkrantz have published The Power of Amazement (Koan) to investigate the effects of being left speechless. For her part, the philosopher Jeanne Hersch brought together in The Great Astonishment (Cliff) the ideas that led Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Heidegger or Sigmund Freud, among other philosophers, to scratch their heads.
For example, the followers of Thales of Miletus asked themselves about 600 years before Christ: What persists through all changes? And they concluded that it was not the earth, but something liquid, fluid, that can be transformed into all things without being destroyed.
According to the philologist and etymologist Joan Corominas, the idea of “astonishing” was born in the cavalry, when horses were scared when they saw a shadow. Today, however, the majority of those who investigate this field calculate that astonishment only maintains 25% of frightening connotations. This means that in 75% of cases, astonishment is related to luminous perplexity.
Since 1950, and particularly since 2000, scientific studies on amazement have multiplied. Among the students of astonishment there are professors of social psychology and experts in neuroscience interested in studying the surprises that take us out of our routine.
Dacher Keltner and Jonanathan Haidt, for example, created The Awe Measurement Scale in 2018, a scale to measure the experience of being overwhelmed by something unexpected. Both conclude that amazement transforms the notion of time and decreases the tendency to cling to one's own thoughts.
However, nowadays, specialists indicate, we are less and less astonished, because we are more attentive to asking the mirror who is the most beautiful in the world, than to what happens beyond our navels. Therefore, achieving the wow effect and leaving customers speechless is increasingly important for companies.
The battle to achieve “Aaaahs”, “Oooohs” and “Guaaaus” is played on many fronts. According to Sandberg and Hammarkrantz in The Power of Amazement, in New York a doctor prescribes “awe walks” to reduce the stress of his patients.
The neuroscientist Beau Lotto, for his part, has analyzed the experience of amazement of 280 people during ten Cirque du Soleil performances in Las Vegas to conclude that those who are more astonished have less need to be right and easier to manage uncertainty.
People who have made wonder the driving force of their lives are called wonderjunkies or wonder addicts. This is the case of Leigh Ann Henion, an American writer whose life changed after being commissioned to write a report on the migration of the monarch butterfly. Seeing herself surrounded by millions of orange-winged butterflies, Ella Henion exclaimed: “If this exists, what else don't I know?” Since then, she has traveled in search of amazing phenomena, such as the Catatumbo lightning strike on Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela), a place that records the highest global average of lightning strikes per square kilometer.
Wonderjunkies share other amazing experiences. For example, twice a year several thousand people gather at the foot of the pyramid at Chichén Itzá, located on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. They come from different parts of the world to witness an incredible phenomenon. At one point, attendees look at the northern part of the pyramid, built to worship Kukulcán, a deity from Mayan mythology.
At the equinoxes something very special happens: then – and only then – the sun projects a fascinating play of shadows and lights for about ten minutes. This phenomenon is repeated every year during the autumn equinox (between September 22 and 23) and the spring equinox (March 20 and 21), about three hours before sunset. When the moment comes, a series of shadows produce the illusion of seeing two snakes sliding down the steps of the pyramid. It is a simple example of the Mayans' amazing astronomical knowledge and architectural skill.
“Amazement is the effect of novelty on ignorance,” said Samuel Johnson, one of England's greatest literary figures. Seen this way, the capacity to wonder can emerge from the most unexpected places. For example, from Claude Monet's paintings of water lilies in the Giverny garden. Monet is often cited as one of the painters most gifted to astonish. The painting that gave its name to Impressionism, Impression, Rising Sun, revolutionized the history of art. In fact, sunrises are in the top three sources of awe, Sandberg and Hammarkrantz reveal.
There are many other painters with a reputation for being amazing, such as Giorgio di Chirico, Hieronymus Bosch or Hilma af Klint, the Swedish painter, who pioneered abstraction, which has become a pop phenomenon with its concentric circles and spirals.
A film called Creating Awe has been created from virtual reality to induce amazement and for viewers to benefit from its positive effects. In the film, the viewer follows a mysterious character through a forest, the underwater world and into space. According to researchers, 43% of attendees had goosebumps. The promoters of this amazing study also reported that participants placed less importance on their own problems when faced with an experience larger than themselves.
Curiosity is closely linked to wonder. Also the mystery and everything that does not appear in the script and drives you to get out of bed in search of the amazing secrets, still to be discovered, that everyday life contains.
