A moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of, something that is very important to you.
● Note "important to you". It needn't be a universal experience. I was in my late teens before I saw my first car race. At Mallory Park circuit I stood on a earth bank overlooking a corner, quite close to and looking down on the cars flashing past. The sense of speed and of danger was, to me, epiphanic.
Rock climbing, my quondam enthusiasm as a youth, should have been a rich source of epiphanies but simply being afraid (a frequent state) didn't quite cut the mustard. Perhaps because I was mainly incompetent.
● My first controlled parallel turn in ski-ing was an epiphany. I was at the centre of the experience, travelling fairly quickly, employing little energy, touching on grace.
● James Joyce is famous for epiphanies although in his case the word's definition includes a rider:
The manifestation being out of proportion to the significance or strictly logical relevance of whatever produces it.
I like that. A third the way through Ulysses I found myself reflecting on the character of Leopold Bloom, recognising in him an exemplar of humanity, its failings and its magnificences. Definitely an e-moment.
● Making love? Not the first time but almost certainly the second. Important that it occurred in London.
● Music? The only endeavour where I anticipate epiphanies. A regular source: The Soave il vento trio from Cosi.
● The bursts of admiration and sympathy I feel for Gina Miller.
● Coming unexpectedly upon one of the Rembrandt self-portraits. Where? I can't remember.
As memory starts to fail, every recall becomes an epiphany.
ReplyDeleteWait....Stricken? Dizzy? *concerned*
ReplyDeleteI'm not the sort of person who tells her epiphanies. Interesting that you would like to do so! People are wonderfully different. However, I don't have any objections to using them as material in stories and poems.
ReplyDeleteMikeM: All recalls an epiphany. I'd agree if it wasn't for the persistence of certain moments of excruciating embarrassment, some dating back fifty years or more. I realise that these piercing experiences might well fit the definition of an epiphany but I've tended to regard epiphanies as beneficial. Perhaps I wasn't entitled.
ReplyDelete"Stricken" was merely an eye-catcher; this cannot be the first occasion when you've had difficulty matching one of my headlines to the post that follows.
"Dizzy" deserves explanation. When I started out blogging (in 2008, some 1332 posts ago) I took a whimsical attitude towards those footnotes which Blogger calls "Labels". I aimed to turn them into minor wisecracks which worked in conjunction with the associated post. If you've got the energy you can riffle through that huge list in the right-hand column and note some of these whimsicalities, eg, Health and lack of it, Nothing at all about music.
Abruptly I got fed up of this. I decided I would add no more new labels and only use those I'd already created. This has led to a good deal of Procrustianism and "dizzy" is the latest example of this.
Marly: One of my guidelines in blogging has been Jerry Seinfield's defence of his successful TV show: "It's about nothing. There should be more shows about nothing." I've frequently done posts about nothing and been delighted when they've drawn coments.
But you could say that "anything" might be considered a corollary of "nothing". Thus, while stopping short of outright pornography, sedition, criminal libel, bad syntax and the more obvious clichés, I've worked on the principle that Tone Deaf covers the water-front. That all subjects are up for grabs. Hence "epiphany" today and, consulting my invaluable list of Labels, "Church stuff" on another occasion. Having said that I entirely sympathise with your disinclination to keep your epiphanies to yourself.
However, while on the subject of blog policy, let me admit to something else. You will have noticed that I frequently tackle serious subjects in a facetious way. Purely a matter of style you understand; any observations and/or conclusions remain germane. Well, usually. This approach is frequently misunderstood in the USA and I appreciate the fact that you are able to take this in your stride.