There's gotta be a word for this...
I thought I might write about a feeling I have been trying to find a word to describe. I’ve been pondering it off and on for a long time. It’s a very specific feeling, one that is often produced by looking at pictures like this:
It is often (but not always) space-themed images, ones that compose different pieces of geometry, outer space, colors, and humans in different ways. It isn’t only triggered by photos, either. The first photo is from The Glitch Mob’s album Drink The Sea, and many of the songs there produce this feeling. The second photo is an album from Zoogma – A Future in Blue.
Another one is the music used in VSauce videos, Jake Chudnow’s [Going Down](https://youtu.be/Q47b507vg). In that same vein, many of the VSauce, VSauce 2, and VSauce 3 channels create the feeling.
The video game Stray evokes the same response, as does Outer Wilds.
I have thought many times about how to describe the feeling in words, but it is difficult. It is sort of like the classical definition of “awe” mixed with sonder. It is the feeling of growing larger than your mind, your ego, your consciousness. While I have not done any psychedelics, I might imagine it is similar to the ideas of “ego-death” or the sort of “mind-expansion” my friends have talked about. It is sort of like standing in front of something that would evoke terror, but feeling comforted and loved. It is like facing down an endlessly dark void, a chasm in the depths of the ocean or space, and feeling a positive push instead of a negative pull. Perhaps there are some feelings of adventure in there too?
Anyway, maybe this is so obvious and I’m just describing something like frisson or wanderlust, but those don’t really seem to capture what I’m talking about.
Any thoughts?
Day 21 of the #100DaysToOffload challenge done!