Elevation (n.) – from Latin elevare, ‘to lift, raise’ or ‘to lighten, alleviate’. A rising upwards – physically, morally or spiritually. To be elevated was once to stand higher than others. To feel elevation is now to feel ‘lifted’ by them. 

Famously felt by: Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, when he throws aside his lightsaber and refuses to kill Darth Vader. Watching his father turn back to the light, Luke is elevated – not just as a warrior, but as someone who transforms through moral courage. 

It arrives when we witness goodness. A sincere thank you in a crowded room. A parent helping their child learn to cycle. A stranger offering up their seat on a train without hesitation. The opening montage of Love Actually. In moments like these, we feel something like light pouring into the chest, sometimes mistaken for a lump in the throat or sudden intake of breath. The heart loosens.

This is not happiness, nor pleasure, nor amusement. It’s closer to wonder, sparked by the unexpected and beautiful. But unlike wonder, which makes us curious to know more, this emotion calls us to action. It draws us toward virtue, stirring a desire to emulate what we’ve just seen.

Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist who has studied this phenomenon, found that people who experience elevation often feel moved to help others.

From an evolutionary perspective, elevation may have developed as a way of reinforcing prosocial behaviour so we might imitate it, reward it and stay close to those who embody it. As Haidt observes, “elevated people, such as saints, are sources of positive contamination. I would even go so far as to suggest that saints are found in so many cultures because elevation is found in so many cultures.”

It’s why the influence of education activist Malala Yousafzai endures. She embodies a virtue we instinctively recognise as beautiful – whether through her steadfast commitment to education or her courage in the face of violence. The philosopher Martha Nussbaum describes emotions as value-laden judgments, as “intelligent responses to the perception of value.” To feel is to recognise what matters. Elevation, then, is the judgment that goodness exists: fleeting, perhaps, but real. 

Unlike joy, which can be private, elevation reaches outwards. It wants to be shared. It’s why we send videos with captions like, “You have to see this,” “This made me cry,” or “Watch this.” Elevation orients us towards connection, urging us to spread what has moved us. 

Thomas Jefferson also grasped this. He called it the opposite of social disgust, insisting that such emotions must be exercised.