The operative word in the phrase “light-bulb moment” is moment. Like incidental joys, epiphanies only happen in the present. Perhaps an epiphany resembles a light switch more than the light itself.
You fumble about in a dark room, feeling your way around furniture, moving carefully so you don’t stumble into walls. You’re looking for something — some tool or object — you know it ought to be in here somewhere… Wasn’t it over on the desk? Your hand lands on something that must be it — it’s the right size and shape… You drag what you hope is the object you’re looking for back out the door and into the lighted hallway.
That’s not it. You go back in a second time, moving more quickly toward the blacked-out corner where you expect to find what you’re looking for. You make multiple trips, again and again, each time moving more quickly, with more confidence, with memories of the path around what you used to trip over or run up against.
With successive experiences, you get hotter, faster — you haven’t found what you’re looking for, but you’re slowly but surely removing everything in the vicinity that’s NOT the thing you require or desire.
“That’s a pen, not a pencil.”
“That’s a dime, not a penny.”
“That’s a receipt, not a check.”
“There’s a note with a name and number — but that’s another note, entirely.”
There’s a piece of paper with an important bit of information on it — Awesome! You really need that, you’re so glad you found it, you’d all but forgotten or given up on finding that months ago… Too bad it’s not the note to self you were hoping to find right now.
It’s a process of elimination. Keep trying.
Wouldn’t it all go a little faster, become a hell of a lot more efficient, if you turned on a lamp or an overhead light when you enter this dark room? Lights always have switches, so maybe you should look for the light switch first. You spend a moment feeling in the most likely places — about four feet up the wall, near the door; a little chain or cord hanging down in the middle of the space; up the neck of a heavy object with what has to be a shade…
That moment of illumination changes everything! There it is, in plain sight, the thing you were searching for — it had fallen to the floor and you must have been stepping over it in the dark; or maybe you anticipated the need to rediscover it when you were here in the recent past — look, you left it propped up against the pillow on the bed, where you couldn’t miss it, just by walking into the room…
…With the light ON.
You turn off the light and leave, important useful practical clue or insight firmly in hand. You’re ready to apply it, to use it. You’ve found what you need.
Now, when you return to that room of misplaced clues and treasure next time, what should you look for first? The switch. Epiphanies are the moments of illumination, enlightenment, and insight. They are the moment when you see the treasure, the tools, the wisdom sitting on the shelf in that room.
Epiphanies are no guarantee of life-changing behavior.
Epiphany (such a pretty name, I just like saying the word, don’t you?) can’t a do damn thing for you if you don’t use her as she was intended. Do you take her with you when you leave that room, into the other Spaces of your life? Do you leave her sitting on the shelf, shiny and new, still in the box like a collector’s item, an artifact? Or do you plan to unwrap her and play with her?
You don’t need all your epiphanies at any given moment, for all given tasks, for all exercises in manifestation, all at once. You need one here, another there.
Maybe epiphanies are like fire-flies. Once you discover one, you begin to see others. They attract one another. They begin to coalesce and to mate. But like the lightning bug right in front of one moment, an epiphany may shift location, reappearing and winking at you again from a slightly different location.
You could try to collect them all in a jar, to light a dark space, but that never works out like you hope, does it? Insights don’t survive in captivity.
I’ve been spotting a lot of new epiphanies lately, with the help of Adam Kayce’s Inner Peace Audio collection. The one thing I realize, with my twilight spaces lit by constellations of low-flying eureka sparks, is that witnessing brief moments of wisdom is not quite the same as having them — possessing them. These lights don’t stay on. They come and go.
More than anything, having epiphanies is not the same thing as applying them.
Epiphanies, in and of themselves, don’t do anything — you may do something different because of them. But behavior is a constant, on-going, creative choice — always shifting, ever so slightly, as you chase the next liberated pixel of the night.
A-ha. You get it. Now what? What do you do, once you get it? When do you do it again? When do you get to stop?
Take action in your moments of light, and all the moments that follow.
Image by Matt Cinque | Flickr via Creative Commons
What if you don’t know what a switch looks like? Or spend a long time in the dark wondering where in the world a switch ~could~ be? How would some one recognize a switch if they’ve never seen it before or not understood what they were looking for? What if sometimes there ISn’t a switch? and we keep wandering about in the darkness for a long time before we realize it? (yes, some of us take longer to understand these things!) Maybe where we are requires a flashlight…. or a candle. The aid of some one else, perhaps, to help us find our way? I dunno…. A switch is a good thing, I agree. Turning a switch on may not be so simple a thing for some of us who have recently evolved into a being who realizes they DO have a choice about where they are headed in life as opposed to some automaton drone plugged into a circuit board. Guess I better start looking for that switch!
Hi Slade, I had never quite realized just HOW beautiful the word “epiphany” was until I read it in your article. Thank you for that! I love your writing Slade and I have been going through a bunch of your old posts and really enjoying them. Gratefully, Jenny
Slade,
It can be tough to actually follow up on those rare insights, it’s a struggle to make the inspiration last long enough to take on solid shape.
Epiphanies are like sparks… do you have the dynamite ready?
It’s the suddenness and surprise of epiphanies that I enjoy the most. For me they bring the same delight as finding 20 bucks in an old coat or hitting three green lights in a row. I find that Ah-as can be captured. I write them down quickly or even better I record them so when played back I can hear the energy in my own voice. Then by acknowledging the delight and the meaning in these gifts I can sometimes follow the often-illusive trails of further discovery.
The title of this post makes me think of a liturgical system that I’m not terribly familiar with, but that at times sounds amazing. I like the idea of celebrating a holiday called epiphany. It makes me wonder what the celebration of insight might look like.
By the way, I like the fish/lightbulb picture a lot!
Bob, a couple of years ago, on the occasion of the Christian holiday Epiphany, I wrote this post about what Epiphany might mean to a witch. In some ways it ties to what Slade is talking about here, in terms of taking advantage of opportunities to do something about those ah-ha moments.
I’ve had a lot of personal epiphanies lately and mostly they haven’t required action, merely acknowledgement. As in, oh yes, now I see what THAT means. Sometimes it’s a divine slap up side the head. Sometimes it’s a lightbulb as delicate as a firefly, but none the less powerful for its subtlety.
Fedelmia,
All the questions you ask are valid ones, but I think you’re ultimately asking what to do if you’re not having an epiphany, or perhaps how to induce one… Epiphanies are often surprises, they are often seemingly involuntary, they be randomly or incidentally triggered. Part of their magic is that they sometimes come when you’re NOT searching or trying.
What I was trying to communicate in this post is not “how to force an insight” but rather to point out that you must take some (different) action in response to these moments, and you must continue to put the insight to work in your choices and behavior, over and over again.
I observe myself and others saying “Oh, I get it! Perhaps next time I should ____” but when the opportunities present themselves, you continue to behave as if you never had the insight. You know what I mean?
In general, I call this Shelf-Help — you read a great book with a radical new technique that puts everything in perspective and then you put that knowledge on the shelf and continue as if you have no new knowledge.
I do highly recommend Inner Peace Audio for inducing epiphanies — that’s literally what Adam Kayce, the producer of the meditations, calls the information the meditations are intended to reveal. Since I began working with them, I’m keeping a journal of my epiphanies…
Jenny,
It is a groovy word, isn’t it? I suppose the word first insinuated itself into my vocabulary studying James Joyce when I was a teenager/in college. Not only did he use the word/concept in exploring stream-of-consciousness, he also referred to some of his stories as “epiphanies.”
And thank you for the praise — I’m thrilled to hear you’re enjoying my articles!
Vitor,
I like the metaphor of sparks — yes, thank you! The changes we want to see always come down to a matter of daily, on-going behavior, don’t they?
Tom,
I too find them mostly to be “incidental joys” — I often find myself repeating the thoughts out loud, somewhat incredulously, to solidify them. You know I didn’t know until this morning that the literal translation of the Greek epiphania is “manifestations.”
I would point out, however, that often my epiphanies involve painful revelations of truth, kind of like Homer Simpson “Doh!” moments.
Bob,
I had this post drafted for several weeks and nothing particularly “Easter-ish” or “Solstice-y” wanted to be posted this time around. It was discovering Matt Cinque’s awesome digitally-altered pics that made the decision for me. I really dig the image, too!
Angela,
Thanks for the link. I will be curious to see how the context I was talking about corresponds to the Christian Holiday. I truly wasn’t motivated by or even thinking about the Epiphany Holiday (generally, I rarely will be coming from that direction) but like you I have often looked at the significance of holy days of various faiths through the filter of pagan traditions. Of course, both remnants and overlaps and connections abound.
It’s very satisfying to find those converging paths after you’ve arrived, isn’t it?
Yeah, I am working through something in my life right now. And I am pressuring myself, or I feel pressure, some how, to get through it! I do feel like I am on the verge of something greater (an epiphany) coming about because just today I had some “light” coming to my mind about things going on. And yes, it wasn’t forced….it just came to me! It’s like whatever is going on has been damming up a great flow in my life and bits and pieces have been breaking off over the past so many years and I think the blockage is about to totally break loose! That’s the kind of pressure I’ve been feeling and I guess I feel the energy behind it and it’s kinda scary and I feel like I will loose control some how. But, I just need to let it happen. That’s the ‘epiphany’ I got today. Because if I don’t, I”ll just stagnate and become a cess pool. This may seem like a simple thing… or a little thing… to some, but hey, it’s what’s going on with me. It’s wonderful that there are others ‘out there’ who have gone the way before and can say, “It’s ok. You’ll make it. Trust me. Been there, done that!” Sometimes we may not believe it but once we get ‘there’…we say “OH YEAHHHHH!”.
I’ll have to look into the Inner Peace Audio stuff. Thanks for ‘listening’.
Dear Slade,
I entered the room
and didn’t notice the light was on,
I took the book I was looking for
went out and closed the door.
Buddha Laughed at me
but I did not hear it.
I didn’t notice anything
(but the narrator did)
for me, it was just a moment
like another,,,
Alas, that’s why I always carry a flashlight.
Seriously, this post was so timely you have no idea! My Guides have just given me a major epiphany regarding a writing project I will be working on next. (Long story.) The whole thing came to me in a dream like a pretty little packaged gift. I woke up shouting “Eureka!!” as I scrambled for my computer to write everything down before I lost it to reality. (I shouldn’t have worried. The dream was very , very vivid & detailed. I won’t lose that any time soon.)
My Guides & Muses are so good to me… sigh….
Love & Light,
Jewels
Slade,
“Insights don’t survive in captivity.” Says it all quite well.
I knew the minute I started reading this post, I was in trouble. It was almost as if I knew what was coming. Being a relaspsed, very well taught Catholic doesn’t help much. Guilt becomes like radar. It always find the spot.
In my head I heard the admonition, guilty as charged. I get all the aha’s. And I don’t always do something with them. Meaning retention is nil. That’s why my hindsight is so very good. I almost always have the answers then. Pulled from storage.
On the other side, I do use some of what I learn. I can finally recognize peace and know how to get it. It took months of literal silence in my life, but the finding of that level of peace is incomparable.
It’s true, I’d love to have received and reported this message in a gentler fashion. But maybe my aha here is to get just angry enough that I’m hearing this how many times now? So then can begin applying the rest of what I’ve saved.
I also love the “insights don’t survive in captivity”. So simple and such a strong message.
It feels like a message from this article is not to try and consciously ‘have’ an epiphany. I mean- like fireflies they will just elude you the more you try, right?
I spent entire summer nights chasing those suckers with my brothers to no avail:)
When we do have an epiphany, though- it’s a gift. We need to treat it like one and thus USE it. Apply that lesson as soon as we can. I am an admitted procrastinator and it’s easy to ‘shelf’ this kind of thing as you put it.
It also seems that the more we take advantage of these little surprise ‘gifts’ from the universe we will get more. I use my epiphany, or lesson to show I ‘get’ it and thus spread the word by putting it out there, recycling it for others to benefit from. Spreading the word, in a way. That attracts more a-ha moments and they multiply as you mentioned here.
Great metaphors and such an accessible message. Again thanks for putting this out there in a way that is easy to understand without being simplistic.
This kinda dovetails with the law of attraction, in a way. Abundance.
I was at the hospital with my little one (he’s ok now) for something relatively minorl but found myself having some negative thoughts. I have been really working on curtailing that mindset especially now that I am a mother. I need to recalibrate my default setting! Ha. Anyway the nurse walked me to a chair and told me to wait while she had my son in the next room. Anxious, I looked around the room. On the wall right in front of me were different paintings made by children and framed. The one in front of me? “Remember there are angels standing near you!” was written on the picture next to the drawing of a winged …well, it was supposed to be an angel. I thought the timing of this was perfect as I have been wondering where are my angels to help me anyway? I guess that could be an epiphany. The next day I was thinking about a future move and weighing options. Walked past a car and saw a bumper sticker “remember the person you wanted to be?” I literally laughed to myself (looked like a nut, that’s ok!)
You’re right, Slade. These things happen suddenly but also can happen in succession too if you are receptive or maybe if someone thinks you need an extra nudge. It’s really exciting to see ‘feedback’ in this seemingly random manner. It also makes you appreciate how much weight our thoughts and actions really do have.
Sabine,
Thank you for the compliments to the article, and especially for giving me specific feedback about the parts that resonated with you.
Gorgeous personal stories in your comment! Love the way your angels winked at you through the child art — could there have been a better form, context, time, and environment for that reminder?
Same with your bumper sticker moment — when I think about it, bumper stickers are a kind of personal Epiphany-Paid-Forward, much as you mentioned sharing and expressing your insights with others.
Your world really is communicating with you in such a dynamic, elaborate, multi-faceted way — I appreciate your pinning up a few examples for everyone to see their own world reflected in, and learn from…
Slade – my greatest takeaway from this post – to act upon epiphanies. They’re not just to look at!
As a follow-up to this post, I’d love it if you’d mention an epiphany you’ve experienced that you did act upon, or didn’t and wished you had. Just a thought! Thanks.
Fedelmia,
One of the reasons I wrote this post was because of the many times I’ve noted myself standing on the diving board looking down at a particularly daunting or awesome view… The fear and pressure you describe for me would be like that clicking, climbing first hill on a roller coaster, where you reach the moment of equilibrium, suspended between gravity, with the impending change spread out before you.
I bring up a diving board as an alternate metaphor because an epiphany can put your at that topmost point, with a view of the drop spread out before you — you can see what you’re about to dive into, or where you need to dive, and still find yourself standing at that point indefinitely, fearful, anticipating, expecting, bracing yourself… but not necessarily taking the plunge.
So, in other words, epiphany only takes you so far, and then some action is required. At this point, I most often find myself invoking The Art of Surrender and deciding a cannonball jump is called for.
Patrice,
You make it sound so effortless.
Jewels,
Tell us about this flashlight you always carry!
Barbara,
Maybe it’s not guilt you’re feeling at all, but epiphany wagging a finger at you saying “See, I told you.” So, maybe instead of requiring the guilt to trust the insights as hindsight, beat the guilt to the finish line next time you’re given the chance.
Deb,
What a juicy request! When I first read this and asked myself what examples to pull that fit your question — that I could potentially write about — and I kept finding examples all over this blog.
In a way, nearly all these posts represent some epiphany I’ve experienced, but they are written with the audience in mind, for a more universal application. So, what I’m really hearing is that you’d like to hear more personal examples, which I will definitely keep in mind as I go forward.
The choice to take the action to even begin this web site came about 6 months after the epiphany that I should do so.
My relationship with Money is another example I’ve written about where the insight was a brilliant turning point, but I still struggle to modify my behavior according to that revelation.
Slade,
Ah, my trusty flashlight. I do carry one in a literal sense, believe it or not. One night my mom lost the pearl out of a brand-new ring my dad had just given her for their anniversary. She lost it in a dark parking lot late one night. By the time I got there she had already been searching for it for 20 minutes or so. I pulled out my little flashlight & in less than five minutes the steady beam from my light glinted off the pearl, revealing its hiding place just beneath the front seat of our car — not in the actual parking lot (where she had been looking) at all.
I bring up this literal example to complete the metaphor:
One should endeavor to shine a light in odd places because that’s where you will find the most treasure. In other words, your “ah ha” moments can only be found if you are truly dedicated to looking. You can then keep those insights alive by keeping the lights on, or — on a practical level — writing out your insights & looking at them often.
Make sense? I hope so. If not, keep looking…
Love & Light,
Jewels
P.S. Forgot to mention earlier — I love that picture!
Jewels,
I love the relationship between your literal example and its corresponding metaphor — the mark of a truly gifted story teller!
Thank you for the compliment, Slade! I’m working on being worthy of it….