Name Your Epiphany

[WayneLigon]

Epiphany
a. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something. b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization.

When did something that eluded you finally make sense, and what caused it (if you can identify the source)?

I'm not a big music guy, though I do like music. I just don't know a great deal about it.

One of the most moving stories I ever read was about a teacher trying out a new computer that would interface directly with the human nervous system - the teachers were trying to see if these tiny computers were too distracting to the students. The thing could directly translate things he read, saw, etc. There are some very moving moments in the story, but at the end he comes home (one thing he notices is that the Chinese plaque they have in the hall literally says 'welcome friends' but it also means a whole lot more than that and due to the interface, he knows what all those meanings are) and decides to turn on some music while meeting with the other teachers to discuss their impressions about the interface. Suddenly he understands the music he's listened to all his life, why each note is like that and arranged like that and what the layering and other stuff really means and accomplishes. He breaks down in tears at the sheer joy the knowledge has brought to him. Earlier in the story he meets with an illiterate woman who, thanks to the computers interface abilities, can now read when she gazes upon words that were beforehand just meaningless symbols. That is the kind of revelation he has.

I knew conductors were different in some way but I never could figure out why, or what they exactly did. I knew some were highly praised, but I never understood it. It was the people with the instruments that did things. You follow the notes and watch the timing and things should be like a cake: it should always turn out the same no matter who is at the helm.

Then... a few years ago I was listening to the radio and happened to turn to the classics station. They did something I had never experienced. The host wanted to show the difference in conductors, so he played three identical peices by the same orchestra but done by different conductors.

I never knew. It was like night and day. You could tell it was the same peice.. yet it was not. I finally understood conductors, what they do, why some are lauded for generations, and all that.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Jazz, specifically non-vocal pieces. I went to a jazz festival with my family (against my will at the time) many many moons ago. I remember the piece well, "Blue Moon of Kentucky". When I heard it I felt completely at peace. I didn't know why until much later. I was feeling quite spiritual at the time. Now I try to feel that way whenever I listed to any favorite piece of music or during any movie. You'd be amazed at the number of times I've been 'moved' like this.

 

[palleomortis]

Well, for an epiphany (or whatever) I think i had one when I rolled a twenty. It made me relize that I could actually kill somthink as a halfling. But then the Great Red Wrym sneezed, and, well... NOT a pretty story.

 

[der_kluge]

I've had numerous, but a recent one was when I concluded that when I sought out a low magic campaign, what I was really looking for wasn't low magic, but verissimilitude coupled with realism.

 

[Lhorgrim]

Mine was when my son was born in 2003.

I had never been able to understand how some of the parents I dealt with in my job (law enforcement) could cover for their kids (over 18), even when the crime was something as serious as rape or murder. I ran into parents who would lie about the location of their kids to try to keep us from serving an arrest warrant. I was able to prove that a mother was lying on the stand to give her son an alibi. I couldnt believe she would commit perjury over a misdemeanor assault charge.

Then my son was born, and I could finally realize that these parents would have sacrificed themselves to save the children they loved, and not though twice about it.

That isn't to say that all of the parents I deal with care for their kids, but the ones that do will risk much for them.

 

[DaveStebbins]

I was probably about 19 or 20 and had dropped out of college and was gaming several times a week. Several things just suddenly came together. I had read The Tao of Pooh earlier in the week. I was thinking about my friends/gaming buddies and realized how much more fun it was to spend time with the ones who had positive attitudes and who weren't afraid to try things (and enjoy them, even if it didn't work out and made themselves look foolish) versus the ones who were very negative and brooding. It also occured to me that there were people with nothing who were happy and people who could have anything who weren't happy. My epiphany was that happiness is a decision; my attitude is the one thing in life that I will always have control over. I decided to be one of the positve people that others would enjoy hanging out with. That week turned my life around and things have been great ever since, even when bad things happen.

Peace.
-Dave

 

[KenM]

I had one a few months back when I realized that I won't tolerate anyone in my life doing drugs. There was this girl a cared for and she would not stiop doing drugs, no matter what. I already went though it with my Mom being an addict. She knew this but did not care. I thought I could work though it becuse I was in love. It turns out she lied to me from the start and was not the person I thought she was. That was my epiphany.

 

[s/LaSH]

Possibly when I realised the purpose of life. I was doing my paper run, thinking about evolution, and suddenly realised that was it. Life was about surviving, diversifying, and spreading. I started seeing waveforms in my head describing four-dimensional (or analogs thereof) patterns of interacting genetic streams in ecosystems and transecosystems and... yeah. It's influenced my whole way of thinking since.

Another epiphany is one I've never actually gone through, because I always shy away from it as it's creeping up on me. It's the knowledge that you can see the world in a CAT scan, as opposed to the simple 2D interpretation method that biology gave us, true 3D vision (as assisted by knowledge of biology and so forth, I don't have the tesseract structures necessary to truly see in 3D). But whenever I try to use it, it creeps me out.

I try to get these all the time, but most of them are so weird I won't share them.

 

[VoiceOfReason?]

My epiphany is in the night sky. The act of futiley trying to grasp exactly how far away the stars are; how big they are; how much energy they burn through every second of every one of the billions of years each one lives; is so mindboggling and enticing to me it sets random creative juices flowing without fail.

I had one a few months back when I realized that I won't tolerate anyone in my life doing drugs.

wow, get ready for a lonely life dude. you know what endorphins are? dopamine? adrenaline? caffene? asalcytic acid? vitamin C? All drugs. and with the possible exception of caffene and asprin, you're on all of them right now.

As an avid drug user I would also like to take a moment to point out that 15-35% of the people you know and think don't do drugs do, and just don't tell those that aren't in their confidence (like one would expect any better-than-dim-witted criminal to do).

P.S. yes I realize the irony in my last statement. and yes, I was high when I wrote it.