Squibs

We have two social dimensions: one of likeness (closeness or distance) and one of status (place in hierarchy). We easily "recognize" (i.e., quickly assume) where people fit in these two dimensions.

Moral concepts are clustered in three groups: 1. ethic of autonomy, 2. ethic of community, and 3. ethic of divinity.
Ethic of Autonomy is the goal of protecting individuals from harm so they can pursue their own goals. Ethic of Community is protecting the integrity of groups, families, nations, yielding virtues such as obedience, loyalty, and wise leadership. Ethic of Divinity is protecting from degradation the divinity that exists within us -- keeping us free from "moral pollutants" like lust, greed, and hatred.

It is dangerous for the Ethic of Divinity to supersede the Ethic of Autonomy because you could end up with Nazi-like moral crusades, but a life that ignored the Ethic of Divinity would be unsatisfying.

Maybe one of the primary driving factors of progress and innovation is the fact that witnessing extraordinarily skillful actions gives people the drive to imitate.

I am curious to know how people in the audience felt/acted with regard to the mosquitoes Bill Gates released at the TED conference. How many people would have swatted at the mosquitoes as typical pests? Did some people try to coax the mosquitoes to bite them just so they could tell their friends they were bitten by one of Bill Gates' mosquitoes? How many people assigned the mosquitoes some Bill Gates/TED Conference majesty? It probably depends on whether they saw it as an historic event ... but what determines whether people view something as historic/special?

A constant stream of trivial concerns and egocentric thoughts keeps people locked in a profane world. The self is the main obstacle to spiritual advancement.
Anything that shrinks the self creates an opportunity for spiritual experience.

Awe is the emotion of self-transcendence. Awe creates an opening for change.
Historically, awe meant fear and submission in the presence of something much greater than the self. Only in the modern secular world does it mean surprise plus approval.
Awe happens when 1. a person perceives something vast -- usually physically vast, but could also be conceptually vast (e.g. grand theory) or socially vast (e.g. great fame or power), and 2. the vast thing cannot be accommodated by the person's existing moral structures.