THE CHAPTERS

Each of the chapters explores a different aspect of awe, silence, science, and spiritual transformation, and how these point us toward deeper meaning and the Divine.

CHAPTER 1 - AWE

Chapter-1 opens with an account of awe experienced by the author early in his stay in Antarctica. The author explores what awe is, summarising scientific research on the subject, its different types (spanning every-day awe to mystical awe), and what can trigger it. Described by researchers as “The new science” awe has only been studied as a psychological emotion for the last 25 years.

What is awe’s spiritual and religious context? The author discusses this with reference to notable theological thinkers such as Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas, and the spiritual dimensions of secular (non-religious) science. The chapter describes how experiences of awe reported in multiple secular studies bear a remarkable resemblance to theological descriptions of the Divine — God in Western traditions. The chapter asks the question: can awe be described as a religious instinct?

Chapter-2 describes an intense episode of awe the author experienced in Antarctica which might be described as a self-transcendent or mystical experience. The author compares this to a similar episode of awe experienced and written about by an author visiting Antarctica two years later. The two accounts are similar yet the two authors had never met when describing their experiences.

The chapter concludes referencing the power of awe to heal Social Pain — the damaged sense of connection with others that most of us experience some time in our lives — many of us a lot.

Chapter-3 describes the author’s experience of awe while dangling on a rope suspended deep inside an Antarctic crevasse. The author explores the phenomena of Imposter Syndrome, its connection to social pain, and how awe, by shrinking the self, can reduce the pain these cause.

The chapter also describes how awe reduces narcissism and increases servancy — our motivation to help and care for others, described in secular studies of awe as “saintly tendencies”. The chapter concludes noting how “In ‘quiet’ our true selves are left alone with the truth of the universe, and we are a part of it.”

Chapter-4 describes the significant benefits of quiet in our lives, including how quiet opens the mind to insight and wisdom.

What does Augustine of Hippo, one of history’s most influential theologians and philosophers, have to say about how the quiet mind opens us to the Gentle Whisper of the Divine?

The chapter concludes referencing Benedictine Monk John Main’s message that meditation and prayer (known sources of awe), provide us meaning and a connection to the Divine.

Chapter-5 describes how we are all, regardless of our religious beliefs, programmed to pursue higher meaning. The chapter summarises the science that tells us that humans do not experience the world in the material, object-oriented way that we think, but directly as meaning. Meaning is not the biproduct of life we once thought it was, but is its very essence.

The chapter describes how humans prioritise meaning, not by using reasoning but by using morally-driven intuition.

The two sides of religion — spirituality and doctrine (the latter being the codification of morals) — are discussed. The author’s friend asks him “But why is life’s journey so cryptic. Why are the lessons of life hidden in religious stories?”

Chapter-6 discusses the ways we pursue meaning in the world, how meaning is not found in material things but in the psychological and spiritual depths of myths and stories, metaphors and allegories, and how these are remarkably similar across different cultures.

Do humans possess a collective unconscious, built up from the repeated experiences of our ancestors, that has been passed on to us from generation to generation, since the beginning of time? The work of evolutionary theorist and analytical psychologist Carl Jung on archetypes — the archaic patterns and images born into the collective unconscious of people — is discussed.

What is the role of meaning in sacred rituals, such as the Catholic Eucharist, where ordinary things are held to become something more than they appear?

What is the greatest meaning that we can think of? — the most true, the most good, the most beautiful thing we can think of? And how might this relate to concepts of the Divine?

“But who or what is the Divine?” the author’s friend asks.

Chapter-7 opens with a description of an intense awe experience that occurred for the author after his return from Antarctica.

The author’s friend asks him “How come you believe in God?”. The author replies describing the problem of arguing the existence of God using personified concepts such as a man-on-a-cloud, or a being somewhere else in the universe.

The author discusses the failing sometimes of modern religious traditions to emphasise the mystical, internally-experienced nature of the Divine above doctrine and dogma.

The chapter concludes with the author’s friend asking him why personified descriptions of the Divine are so common?

Chapter-8 discusses the reasons people personify concepts of the Divine in different religions and the value of having a personal relationship with the Divine.

The chapter asks the question, is it the concept of God that we have in our minds that counts, or the love in our hearts that grows from the relationship that is developed by that concept?

The author’s friend then asks “Was Jesus real?” and becomes impatient asking “But why do we have so many different religions?”

Chapter-9 explains the reasons there are different religions in different cultures. The two sides of religion — doctrinal practice and spiritual development ­— are discussed, and the concept of “Spiritual Homeostasis” and it’s risks are introduced.

The chapter describes ways as individuals that we can grow closer to the Divine, independent of the faith tradition we might follow.

The author’s friend asks: “Is heaven real?” and “Whose prayers does God answer?”

The chapter concludes with the author’s friend asking “Well what about people who don’t believe in religion at all? What about the atheists?”

Chapter-10 discusses the strengths and weaknesses of arguments against believing in God.

Referencing research on the topic, the chapter lists the reasons atheists and agnostics give for their non-belief in God, and issues with the quality of some of those arguments. The “New Atheism” movement and the arguments of “The Four Horsemen of Atheism” are discussed. The chapter discusses how the scientific tradition was born within religious monastic traditions and how the pursuit of truth is a common religious dimension.

The chapter concludes with the author’s friend asking “Is A.I. poised to replace humankind?”

Chapter-11 is a series of reflections by the author on what it is to be human and the difficulties A.I. might have joining the club called “life”.

The author discusses what life really is, both biologically and as a journey of spirit seeking meaning. He explores principles such as “survival of the fittest”, “reciprocal altruism”, and the “evolution of love”. Questions of A.I.’s ability to see meaning, to experience feelings, to have a connection with the Divine, and to have a soul are raised.

The chapter concludes with the author’s friend thanking him for these reflections, and saying he has some questions about the nature of the human soul.

Chapter-12 explores what the human soul is, the journey it is on, the nature of free will, and theories of how free will can work in a physical universe.

“Is my soul my thoughts?” the author’s friend asks. The author discusses what the soul is in relation to our physical bodies and our minds using the philosophical concepts of form, substance, and essence. The concept of “Spiritual Dissonance” is also discussed — the deep and unsettling sense we sometimes have that something within us is out of alignment.

Questions such as the soul reconnecting with family after death, worthiness to enter heaven, the nature of our true essence, what it means to learn a life-lesson, and karma and free will are explored. In discussing these, concepts such as Many-Worlds Interpretation (MWI) theory, the Block Universe hypothesis, and Quantum Field Theory are described.

Chapter-13 explores what happens to us at the moment we die, the fluidity of our perception of time, what is happening to us when we suffer brain disease or old age, and the 14 billion year old material in which our thoughts reside.

The author’s friend asks him what he would say to family members he leaves behind him after his death, if he could.

The author’s friend then asks him for his thoughts on people who have brain damage or conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. The author describes what he would want his children to know if he couldn’t communicate with them after experiencing a traumatic brain injury such as a stroke.

The chapter discusses death as a corner that we are all turning, how the brain is more than just a computer, and how our minds are made from the same energy and matter that came into existence at the beginning of time.

The author’s friend asks him “But why do we suffer so?!”

Chapter-14 discusses the question of why God seems to allow people and especially children to suffer. The chapter explores the meaning, causes and treatments of suffering, referencing research on the power of love and caring.

The failure of money and material things to solve suffering is discussed. The thing which can overcome the greatest suffering — pure love — is discussed using the example of Christ being executed by the Romans in the most painful way. The failure of euthanasia to solve suffering is touched on.

The chapter concludes with the author’s friend asking him “What is it we should do then to be happy?”

Chapter-15 reviews the thinking of some of the world’s top researchers on what happiness is and the things we can do to be more happy. The chapter lists five foundational principles and six enablers of happiness.

The chapter explores happiness as a life infused with meaning. The role of effort and dopamine in happiness are explained.

The chapter concludes with the author noting how “walking together”— in groups or as an individual near others — has been found to be happiness-generating.

Chapter-16 opens describing the Camino-Frances, one of the world’s most popular walking pilgrimages, as a “moving meditation”— an 800 kilometre (500 mile) 36 day retreat from the materialism and spiritual pain of modern life. The meaning of the Latin expression “Ultreia et Suseia”— the call of the Camino­ — is explained.

The author summarises some of the reflections he journalled while walking the Camino-Frances with his wife. He describes the importance of restructuring our minds through better habits if we want our minds to be Quiet Lands — places where we might experience moments of awe and insight, and so the Divine.

After summarising the book’s key points the author explains how the Camino is a metaphor for life. In life, like the Camino, every step we take forwards to be a better person, or to help someone else be a better person, creates a moment of awe, and is a step upwards for all of us.