Awe as the Foundation of Religion: Reflections on Universe and Life

In this book, the author searches for the essence of religion. Despite its existence from the beginning of humanity and being a universal phenomenon, religion is not defined uniformly. Humanity has always searched for a theory of everything, on one hand, through humanistic means, one of them being religion, on the other hand, through scientific explorations. In both realms, awe is the force that prompts these investigations. The author proposes the understanding of religion as based on two premises. First, awe is a natural, positive, permanent, intimate, life-supporting emotion founded in the human experience of the unity of the universe and life, whether realized or not. Second, religion is an expression of that unity through awe. Once it is conceptualized, it metastasizes through culture and civilizations into a variety of religious traditions, all with a common denominator: awe. Through experiencing awe, everyone is a religious person unified with the mysterious unity of the universe.