How to Induce Awe in an Ordinary Room

To begin, you will need:

one room, preferably one routinely overlooked

and one humble body willing to remain regardless.

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Close the door, but do not lock it.

Awe dislikes absolute confinement.

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Turn off the overhead light, and leave the smallest lamp burning instead.

Watch how the shadows begin to negotiate with one another for position.

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Place an aging chair in the center of the room and apologize to it.

Well-used furniture remembers every version of you that once sat there.

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Lie down prostrate on the floor.

Lower your perspective until the table legs resemble pillars. (No. Lower.)

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Now remove the ceiling. Carefully.

Set it gently aside, taking care not to chip it.

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If this proves difficult, imagine it thinning like mist until you can lift it.

Imagine the aging plaster dissolving into pure altitude.

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Hold your breath for exactly the length of one forgotten year.

Release it slowly and deliberately.

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Notice the dust rehearsing constellations.

Observe how the air thickens when you truly pay attention to the currents it follows.

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Say the room’s true name aloud. Say it backward if you can do so without making mistakes.

If you do not know it, invent one.

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Wait patiently.

Eventually, the walls will lean closer and start to breathe. Shallowly.

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When the ceiling settles back into place,

sincerely thank the beams for standing in for the sky.

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Leave the door unlocked

before slipping away quietly.