On the Nature of Epiphany
Shorter post today. I’ve been stuck on this! Maybe someone can help me out.
I’ve been thinking about the nature of epiphany recently after a quick exchange with
(pictured below).
There is something quite philosophically interesting here. Stefan describes epiphany as something we are at once passive and active with respect to.
We are passive in that it is something we have to indirectly effect or hope for. In the most common case, I am simply struck by a realization as I am walking out of the shower or in the garden. Perhaps I have given it some thought to it earlier in the day, but it is almost essential to said realization being an epiphany that it comes without effort.
Thus, having an epiphany begins to look much more like something which merely happens to me. Something I can, of course, plan for — I might, if I am as smart as Stefan, be aware that it is likely to hit as I am stepping out of the shower and so place a notepad there, but this will be no different from my anticipating to wake with nausea and placing a trash bin by my bed. Surely I am passive to, or, perhaps, a victim or sufferer of Nausea. Am I thereby passive to, a victim of, an epiphany?
At the same time, it is obvious that any epiphany or realization I have will be ‘mine’ in a further and deeper sense than any nausea is. This is best shown by Stefan’s use of the term ‘hard work’ and ‘effort’ to describe whatever happens in the shower, or a purposeless walk. We want to say that it is my hard work, that it is something I should be proud of.
And this is the puzzle. What is the hard work of an epiphany? What makes it different from a bout of nausea? Is the answer as simple as I had been thinking about it unconsciously? If that is the answer, then is an ‘epiphany’ mine in the same sense other unconscious thoughts are?
I look forward to hearing what you all think!
Epiphanies do often feel random, but I think they usually occur from something that has been unfolding in our subconscious for a while.
Thanks for leaning into this topic and bringing me along with you! I want to approach your question, "What is the hard work of epiphany?" as its own essay for Psych Bites. I'll just add that I am interested in 'epiphany' because it straddles that line between agent/receiver, activity/passivity, as you've described. Both nausea and epiphany have a latency to them which sometimes disturbs our causal thinking (was it something I ate? etc.) and this latent effect gives us room to wander.
Perhaps an analogy to gardening would fit in here: we make an effort, hope for the right conditions, but we know not to convince the soil or force the seed...good growth in good time 🙏