The root of awesome is fear. It had godlike intonations that might have transmuted to the awe of nature. Awe can still mean this. It can also mean awful, which might be said of my thought.

Must awesomeness involve others? No. Not in the sense above or in the original meaning, whatever that may be for you.

We all can feel awe, however, in the face of something awesome. This collective awe is an awesome, toward which Riggle points. It can be mystical or stupid or mundane even. Collectively it is social. It points to ideals and values. If we don’t all share these values, we can at least point to these ideals in moments of suckiness and awesomeness. That is cool in and of itself, which is how I take Riggle’s view.

I agree with Mr. Smith on this one. The whole experience of awesome arises from just how unique or heart-stopping a thing may be....heart-stopping being metaphor, not literal. Meanings or words and/or expressions take on different lives generation to generation. This does not require nor entail a change in the original or usual meaning. Mass and pop culture seem to drive much of this trait. I have never seen the usefulness of misuse or over-use of such terms. But, my opinion does not matter, in the grand scheme of things. I have probably offended servers at several eateries here when they have said 'awesome' after I placed my order, and I replied:'really?' Or maybe they only thought: oh, another old person. Much of current hipness is predicated on excess and extremity; nuance and speed. Some of us are not there,nor care to be. Things that are awesome will always and in all ways be. Those that are not never were. Keep us thinking PT.

When I think of awesomeness, I think about Rudolf Otto's "The Idea of the Holy" and the "numinous experience". Which is a lot like what Tim Smith describes above--that is, an experience of awe and wonder in the face of human nothingness when faced with a holy and powerful being.

My parents have had experiences like that and I have to. Its this kind of this strange sensation but without drugs. Um... Maybe one can point to synesthesia as real life example of this kind of experience in order to ground the discussion.

But my thing though is that maybe a person, you know, can do little things everyday that can manifest awesomeness. Like a piece of driftwood whose shadow shows the shape of a hand at only a certain time of the day. Or giving a buddy half of your sandwich cause its an awesome sandwich.

Jason:
I think your comments are germain. Even small occurrences may be awe-inspiring. But, as suggested at the beginning of the post, the big word is over used, in my humble opinion. Jung's notion about what he called synchronicity seemed far-fetched to me years ago. Time passed. Things happened I could not explain in a rational way. These are, to me, awesome. And yes, I too have shared a sandwich or two...

I have corresponded with my older sibling on this awesomeness thing. Quite a bit. We are pretty much in agreement on the subject. Not everyone sees this in the same way. Nor should they need to. PT allows us to express our differences---within reason, of course. I like that open forum approach. Nothing more to offer on this topic.

Your remarks strike me as germain. Amazing things may happen from the smallest of things. The huge term is overused, though, as I mentioned at the start of the piece. Years ago, I thought Jung's idea of synchronicity was completely out there. A period of time elapsed. There were events that I just could not make sense of. In my opinion, these are fantastic. Also, I've been known to split a sandwich or two with someone. io games

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Personally, I lean towards the view that true awesomeness involves actions that benefit others or create social openings, as suggested by Nick Riggle's perspective. Buckshot Roulette

I concur with Mr. Smith on this matter. The feeling of awe comes from the exceptional cookie clicker 2 or breathtaking nature of something....with "heart-stopping" being used as a metaphor, not in a literal sense.