What happened to Awe?

We lose something when people misuse words. The example under consideration here is the transformation of the formerly meaningful word "Awesome" into a throw-away interjection or adjective.

Moments of real awe that overwhelm the soul are rare, but if you look closely at the miracle of creation in the macro or micro cosmos you can create such a moment almost at will. Real awe is front-loaded into the universe.

At the same time, those things of man that inspire awe diminish moment by moment under the unstoppable onslaught of the word "awesome" . . . .

I've had a few moments in my life where genuine awe shook me to the roots of my soul. Holding my daughter in my arms a moment after she was born comes to mind as does a time when I was very young, lying a field and looking up at the sky and the high cirrus glowing burnt orange in the fading rays of day. There were others as well, gifts given and grace notes. Common to all were an intake of breath and a feeling as if your heart had been grazed by a thought of God and forgot,  for that moment,  to beat. Matched up against all the torrent and cascade of moments though, this genuine awe was rare; it was one of the pearls beyond price, the shining instant of "Ah ha, so that's what it's all about."

Not so today. Today awe is as common as clay. Today all things of man possess the awe of someness.

Some of the language in the rest of the piece is quite strong. If you follow the first link, keep in mind that the author is an immigrant from the Netherlands who was once an executive in the "men's magazine" business, if I recall correctly. He doesn't mince words. And he's sort of hard on Aerosmith. But actually, he has a pretty good point. Famous for scarves hanging from the microphone stand? Seriously? Though I think it might take a  phrase or line from the ninth symphony rather than "one note" to crush their entire oeuvre.

Interesting that more people are starting to pay attention to this issue now.