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This week: Epiphany Edited by: Sophy New Year  
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Hi, I'm Sophy New Year ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Epiphany
The Day of Epiphany occurs on January 6 each year, 12 days after Christmas. On the Christian calendar, the day of Epiphany commemorates and celebrates the visit of the magi to the baby Jesus, bringing their adoration and their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the stable in Bethlehem, finding their way there after having a dream and following a star.
According to the dictionary, the word "epiphany" means "a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something; a comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization." In the religious context, it refers to those times when “God” breaks into our world in such a way that we become more attune to the divine nature. It's like suddenly being able to see details in the shadows. Epiphany is a time when we see, suddenly, as if for the first time, what has been right in front of us all along. It is a time of unexpected gifts. And it's a time for us to be on a journey, or more to the point, be aware of the journey we are already on ~ like the magi, searching for the good news, following a star, in spite of the risks, in spite of any fears.
In addition to any religious meaning of the word Epiphany, there is also the more common usage for the word, as in "I had an epiphany" or an "AHA!" Epiphany has come to mean those times when we see through the day to day machinations of life and realize what is really important, when we come to see what is truly of worth, like having a "serendipitous" experience. We tend to spend much of our lives living in the world of the mundane, the everyday, the world of things and appearances. But every now and then, we see through the opaque veil of the world we've grown accustomed to. And for an instant, we see that the world is much more than it appears, and we come to understand both ourselves, and it, more deeply. In this way, then, epiphany is just the right term: a showing, a manifestation of the true life rather than the one-dimensional life we are accustomed to seeing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke of just such an experience in his "Essay on Nature." He wrote: "In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal beauty."
This, then, is another kind epiphany, the sense that the world is being shown to us in a way that is truer and more real than it usually appears. And this, hand-in-hand with the more purely religious sort of epiphany, is what the spiritual life is all about, regardless of one's religious tradition. An epiphany graces us with the ability to see ourselves more clearly, and then, to know what we have to do. It's as if we journey from the surface of ourselves, and move into the deeper parts of our being. We suddenly realize the answer to a personal problem that has plagued us for as long as we can remember. It's as if we see ourselves from a God's-eye view, just for a moment, and know ourselves in a way we have never known before. These can be the moments we make great strides in our lives, those graced times when we take large steps toward the people we have the potential to be. These too are experiences of epiphany.
All three of these ways of seeing and/or defining epiphanies are, of course related. And most, if all of you, know exactly what I am talking about. So the question that comes to my mind is, why don't we put these "epiphanies" at the center of our spiritual quests? Or at least, why aren't we more intentional about seeking them out, or perhaps, more to the point, more open to realizing and experiencing them? A clue can be found, I think, in what Emerson said about being "glad to the brink of fear" when his epiphany comes. Fear, then, is the main reason that we don't always move toward epiphany experiences. It is frightening to be faced with seeing into the true nature of things, because the fear of epiphany can be the fear of change. For when we see God, the world, and ourselves as they really are, rather than how they usually appear, we understand that our worlds will be shaken, and we might have to change the way we think and act.
As a rule, it's easier to hold onto our old ways of doing things even though we are promised a richer, deeper way on the other side of the epiphany. So, rather than face the epiphany, the sight of our depths, we have many and various ways of avoiding it, so that we are not burdened with the change and upheaval that come from the sight of the divine. There are many ways of avoiding the sight of our depths, the epiphany of the soul. Alcohol and drugs are ways of keeping our focus on the surface, so that we don't come into contact with the life-changing and life-enriching experience of depth. Egocentrism, judgmentalism, apathy, and complacency are others. Or we can bend to the prevailing culture in which we live and say that the world of material things ~ getting them, using them, and finding ways and means to get more ~ is all there is. Or we can say that these deep things are not for us, that one needs to be an exceptionally religious or sophisticated person to truly witness an epiphany.
This life of depth, the life of epiphanies, is like a journey through the desert to an oasis, following a star that shines in the east. The trip is difficult, and there are times when one may think that the trip is a mistake, and that it would have better to have remained thirsty in familiar surroundings. But two things are certain: we can't drink from the oasis unless we leave the thirsty comfort of our homes, and we won't see the epiphanies of life unless we are looking for them. In the spiritual life, as in any journey, there is fear, there is loneliness, and there are times when we question ourselves. But the life of the spirit, the one in which the manifestation of the Divine both without and from within, is the way of real peace.
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Here are some responses to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (December 9, 2015)" about A Season of Light and Hope:
From Pita  :
Dear Sophie, Thanks for this topic of the Spirituality Newsletter. I am glad people are drawing the connections between the Nativity and Syrian Refugees, and Ann Frank and our country's refusal to accept her family as refugees. I am mindful that no matter how afraid people may be, that 50% of the refugees are children.
All the hate-mongering, fear-mongering, has just made everything worse for us as a country, for our citizens abroad, and placed all of us in dire moral jeopardy.This is the first time in my life when I have felt deeply ashamed to be an American.
No matter what our faiths and creeds, we are all called to the table where the only rule is love each other well..
Well said - Amen!
   
From Quick-Quill  :
I like your similarity to present day. It is true they left home but they were not refugees. They were responding to the Law they must be counted. Something God forbade but a long time before. Obeying Civil law is different than fleeing from your home as they did when they left to go to Egypt. I do not equate the syrians with Mary and Joseph. there are differences in this day and age to what was going on 2 thousand years ago.
We do need to pray for them and if possible lend aid to those who are able to harbor them. It would be better to give them back their home than allow it to be over run by heathens.
At this time, Pray, asking god to protect those in need. He has more power to do so than we do.
If we pray, asking God to protect those in need, what do we expect? A magical shield to protect them? Or, more likely, kindhearted people to come to their aid. Isn't that what prayer is, after all? A call to action - and we are God's hands ....
Thanks for all your comments - keep them coming!  Until next time, Happy New Year! Sophy New Year |
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Spiritual: January 06, 2016 Issue [#7404]
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