"Where mathematics comes from" ¹ is a perfect example of brilliant authors who take awe, but have no proper place to consummate that awe. The only logical conclusion is sought in ourselves.

The authors overflow with awe, longing to share and express wonder beyond mere proofs and into the beautiful meaning behind equations. The wonder is incredible. The clear explanations of mathematics connected with the linguistic conceptual metaphor is awe inspiring. Through this book these authors paint a clear picture of fundamental awe behind mathematics.

How are we able to speak of beauty and awe and glory come from when it is rooted in ourselves? Awe and beauty is beholding the big outside. We do not travel to Niagara falls to be filled with awe that we constructed, but rather to be lost in the expanse. Here are two questions to keep in mind when reading this book. What is the source of awe, and what is the purpose and meaning of awe itself?

Here is a pivotal paragraph from this book:

Mathematics as we know it is human mathematics, a product of the human mind. Where does mathematics come from? It comes from us! We create it, but it is not arbitrary--not a mere historically contingent social construction. What makes mathematics non-arbitrary is that it uses the basic conceptual mechanisms of the embodied human mind as it has evolved in the real world. Mathematics is a product of the neural capacities of our brains, the nature of our bodies, our evolution our environment and our long social and cultural history. ²

Most people don't go the Grand Canyon to enhance their self-esteem because there is an echo of the image of God on our souls that we were made to enjoy making much of God forever, not made to be made much of forever..

We were made to enjoy mirroring the glory of God, and when people go to the Grand Canyon there is something that happens in the human soul standing on the edge of that expanse that draws them out of themselves and in a moment, there is a precious gift of self-forgetfulness in which they swell with wonder.

That's why they're made and they all need positive echoes of it and they go to big crazy movies and they buy big books to put on their coffee tables with pictures of mountains and rivers because they know that their joy really comes from outside themselves and not by standing in front of a mirror. You were not created to find joy in a mirror no matter what you see there. ³