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Article: A visit by the universe. (epiphanies)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- August 13, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I report here a couple of experiences that more or less fit one of the definitions of "epiphany" in the American Heritage Dictionary: "A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization." The first such experience happened maybe fifteen years ago. I sat on a dock projecting from an island off Portland, Maine, and watched the tide move in. I didn't really see "the tide," of course; I saw the water slowly cover a flat white rock sitting in the mud. Not an experience to make the heart race, but somehow interesting.
Then I began to reflect not on the phenomenon itself but on the history of our understanding of it. Seeing the tide, I ...