Awe Is What Happens When Small Suddenly Turns Vast
The shift quiets the brain's self-chatter, relaxes the body, and leaves people feeling tied to something larger.
Andrew Huberman · Cultivating Awe & Emotional Connection in Daily Life | Dr. Dacher KeltnerHike for a long time under trees or through a narrow canyon, and then the view suddenly opens. Horizons fascinated Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist who studies vision, because that moment of confinement giving way to openness feels distinct from simply walking with a wide view all along.
Huberman says seeing a horizon widens the angle of vision and shifts the body toward the parasympathetic state, the relaxed branch of the nervous system, “coming off the accelerator of the sympathetic nervous system”, the fast, alert branch that drives focus and fight or flight. Narrow, tunnel focus does the opposite. It is the release from tight focusing that brings the calm.
Filmmakers use the same shift on purpose. Pixar director Pete Docter told emotion researcher Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor who studies awe, that he builds awe in animated films by starting narrow, with the kind of tight, watchful attention that comes with worry or fear, and then suddenly revealing something vast. The visual trick becomes a metaphor. People describe the same jolt with big ideas, when hard work on a paper or a problem suddenly looks like part of something large.
Cellist Yumi Kendall, of the Philadelphia Symphony, described it to Keltner in musical terms. She said practicing five hours a day felt small and narrow, and she kept wondering where her finger was. Onstage, when she feels the notes go out into the space, she feels part of history and tears up.
Keltner said the move from small to vast is the central mechanism of awe. It starts with a sense of self and of the body inside, what scientists call interoception, and then connects that self to something vast outside, like nature, evolution, or an ecosystem.
The default mode network, the self-focused background chatter that runs when we ruminate about ourselves, quiets down. Activity rises in the vagus nerve, a nerve linking the brain to the heart and gut that slows the heart and calms the body, what researchers call vagal tone. The result is feeling tethered, to music, to a culture, or to a team you love.
Even people surrounded by vastness adapt. Rangers at Yosemite and the Grand Canyon feel less punch from the big views over time but still find awe in subtler ways, according to Keltner.
Questions people ask
What does it mean for the default mode network to quiet down?
The default mode network is a set of brain regions that is most active when you are thinking about yourself, replaying the past, or worrying about the future. When it quiets, self-focused chatter fades and attention turns outward. Researchers link that shift to feeling less separate and more connected.
What is vagal tone and why does it matter?
Vagal tone refers to activity in the vagus nerve, a long nerve that runs from the brain to the heart, lungs, and gut and helps slow the heart and support digestion. Higher tone is generally associated with calmer, more flexible responses to stress. Awe is one of several slow-breathing, social, and nature experiences linked to a short-term rise in that calming signal.
Do you need a national park to feel this small-to-vast shift?
No. The same pattern shows up in music and film when tight attention suddenly opens onto something larger. Kendall's move from solitary practice to hearing her notes fill a hall is one example. The key is the movement from narrow focus to a sense of something larger.