e·piph·a·ny
[i-pif-uh-nee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun, plural -nies. | 1. | (initial capital letter) a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi; Twelfth-day. |
| 2. | an appearance or manifestation, esp. of a deity. |
| 3. | a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience. |
| 4. | a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight. |
For a while now I've felt that I needed to go back and read the very 1st book that got me started in this new "awakening" or "becoming conscious": Ishmael. But I've been hesitant in starting it again for a few reasons; one being I have a list of other books I haven't read yet that I really want to get started on. Another reason being in the back of my mind I kept saying "I really don't need to read it again" but I wasn't sure why. Now I know why.
After reading the book Ishmael I had so many questions. The biggest one being of course "Now what? How do I help save the world?" I got my answer to this question a few minutes ago when I was online looking for an Ishmael "study" group. I came upon a question and answer page at the Ishmael website that made me smile. Daniel Quinn (the author of Ishmael) answered the question of how, which is what most people ask after reading his book.
His answer was this:
"By far the most frequently asked question I receive is some form of "Yes, but . . . what exactly am I supposed to DO?" There is no single recipe for saving the world (anymore than there is a single recipe for making a cake or building an aircraft). Rather there are six billion recipes, one for each of us, since each of us is uniquely placed in the world, with unique talents, opportunities, and circles of influence.
Humanity is teetering on the edge of extinction, and its future will be decided in the next half century. What is one to do about this? Albert Einstein said, "The world we have created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking."
I've often likened our situation to the beginning of the Renaissance. People weren't running around asking themselves, "How do we make this thing work?" The Renaissance didn't come about because people began to do new things; rather, new things began to be done because people were thinking in a new way. A new synergy developed that transformed European society. This is what must happen again, now, and this is something we can all collaborate on (and must collaborate on).
You ask what the narrator "would have done" following his encounter with Ishmael. That should be obvious. Ishmael told him to "teach a hundred what I've taught you and encourage them to teach a hundred." He did even better than that. He wrote a narrative of his encounter with Ishmael, thus sharing it with hundreds of thousands of readers around the world. That's not something "everyone" can do, of course. It was just what he could do, which is what everyone must discover for himself or herself (which was true for me as well).
After reading his answer was when the epiphany happened. I didn't realize it, but all of this time I have been answering my own question of how by trying to become a better person and reading all of the books that I have and doing my own research and trying to find my place in this world. The past year I have changed my way of thinking. I haven't been sweating the small stuff as much and have been working on being happy. And when this realization hit me a feeling welled up inside of me: one of completeness and love. And it feels awesome. I knew I was on my way but to actually "see it" is huge and one of the best feelings in the world.I now don't feel as if I HAVE to read Ishmael again. At least, not right now.
-Kim
