It worth noting that, though many results of the first page of google images for "epiphany" are religious in nature, one of them is not. I opt for this image as my go to image for all things Epiphany this semester. It's a water color by Kathrin Burleson.In my notes I have two things written down which I will expand upon. This is in regards to our question about the nature of an epiphany. The first is the claim T.S. Elliot makes that says a place is necessary for an epiphany. The second is my own description of an epiphany (a dramatic restructuring). I have no specific reasons about why I choose these two items from my notes to expand upon at this time.
"A place is necessary for an epiphany"
When I first heard this, I became indignant and thought that a place was NOT necessary for an epiphany. How could so casual a building block be an absolute necessity for such a huge event? As I argued eloquently in my mind against the requirement of "place", I came to realize that "place" isn't just indicative of some lofty hallowed location noted for higher thinking (Tintern Abbey, the white house, MSU English department etc). "Place", or setting, is simply one puzzle piece of several used to describe a given thing. Nouns tend to do well with other nouns in their description so the gap between "place" and epiphany wasn't as big as I first thought.
However, this train of thought did get my mental juices flowing. I think what I was really getting at can best be explained on this page here (found through random googling). "Ideas are available to us through thought, while phenomena are available to us through our senses." This digest of Plato applies to phenomena in such that phenomena, while expressed and examined as an idea, in experience it is a phenomena. How is this different from the average idea or phenomena? My beagle likes to like my hand. When I discuss the act of my beagle licking my hand, I discuss an idea. The event of my hand being licked is experienced as a phenomena. I don't believe the same clear level of separation exists with epiphanies. The experience of the epiphany and how we relate the epiphany to each other does not leave a gap. The strength of each in how we conceive of them creates an overlap. The expression is the experience and the experience is the expression. If this were not the case, it would not be an epiphany.
My definition for epiphany: a dramatic restructuring
This second blog worthy bit from the scrawl in my notebook, well, I'm pretty proud of it. I don't think I'm going to reword it either. I think it says exactly what I want it to say. How do we describe the awesome experience of an epiphany or the effect that it has on someones life? How do we put another persons epiphany into context so that we can comprehend it and not just the effect it has created? When discussing the before and the after for a state of epiphany, how do we best relate the two? I think this definition does a very adequate job of helping to answer these questions about life. The syllabus describes that epiphanies occur in religion and literature as well as in daily life. I think my brief definition applies to epiphanies in those settings as well. I am very surprised at my coming up with it after less than 5 minutes of wearing my thinking cap.
I'm not looking forward to revisiting my life as an English major in an effort to mine it for epiphanies. I know that they are there but that doesn't mean it will be pleasant.
