When love ignites: The warm heart, goosebumps, and joyful tears of Kama Muta

Summary of Seminar

Abrupt changes in social motives are experienced as emotions. In particular, sudden intensification of a communal sharing (CS) relationship is felt as an emotion we call “kama muta” (Sanskrit ‘moved by love’).  Vernacular approximations include comovido, being moved, touched, heart-warming, rapture – although none of these exactly correspond to the psychological phenomenon.  People experience kama muta (KM) when CS relationships suddenly intensify, for example, when seeing the first ultrasound of their baby, when the baby is born, in reunions, when receiving a great kindness, at patriotic and memorial ceremonies, when feeling a deity’s love, watching Pixar movies, or when seeing someone else experience KM.