Awakening to an Awe-Based Psychology

This article is adapted from my opening keynote address to the First International Existential Psychology Conference in Nanjing, China on April 2nd, 2010. The article begins with an overview of the history and current trends within Western (and to some extent Eastern) existential psychology. Existential-integrative psychology and the spiritual dimension of awe are proposed as two contemporary edges of those trends. Although existential-integrative psychology emphasizes cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary openness, the dimension of awe stresses the puzzled apprehension and appreciative wonder of that openness. In the second part of the article, this awe-based and integrative approach is compared and contrasted with time-honored Eastern approaches. It is proposed that although the Eastern approaches appear to emphasize the harmony (or acceptance) of being, and the Western approaches stress the mystery (or adventure) of being, the joining of worldviews holds a remarkable opportunity for a synthesis.