January 2007

Heck – our company’s name is Epiphanies, Inc., so we darn well better say a few words on this sacred day!

First, I’d like to share that our company’s name came to us years before Allen and I ever even considered starting our own business. In fact, we were just beginning to slide down the road to Schmoopiedom, batting eyelashes and going all ga-ga over each others jokes and stories, whether or not they were actually funny or entertaining. You know, that stage in a relationship. Only bearable by the two people immersed in it. God help any onlookers!

So, one day, one of us wrote a love note to the other. (Neither of us can remember who started this, by the way.) Because we’re both writers at heart and rather geeky by nature, the love note was an “official” love note, set upon a fine, fibrous sheet of paper with a header and footer designed to look like an important business document. The footer had a fake address. [Attention diabetics - you may want to stop reading this post right now!]

The address said:

epiphanies, inc.     2 hopelessly devoted lane     youand, me 54321

(I warned you!!)

We have a file now, with a dozen or so letters on such faux letterhead. (Whoa, are these things SAPPY!) Why “Epiphanies, Inc.”? Neither of us can remember that, either. But two years pass and Allen and I are engaged, and we’re deciding on what to engrave on the inside of our wedding bands…and we both agreed Epiphanies, Inc. was the natural choice.

Three years later, when we were stumblling into our fate as co-owners of a business, forced to set up a way to become legal and viable contractors for Mattel after I left their full-time employment to move cross country, we figured we’d stick this unshakable name as our business name. It seemed to be working for us, after all.

Unfortunately, we didn’t really factor in the Internet, and web domains, and how only 2.7% of the Earth’s population actually knows how to spell “Epiphanies” – let alone knows what it means. But we’re in this thing too deep to take our own advice about making sure your website is easy to say and spell. In other words, do as we say, not as we do!

So here we are, nearly a decade after the first letterheaded love note was passed, on the actual Day of Epiphany. While it’s recognized on most calendars, it’s not exactly a mainstream holiday. I, personally, have been trying to find some kind of common beliefs about this day, but it’s never an easy mission.

I’ve read about it being a day for a Christian feast designed to “to celebrate the ‘shining forth’ or revelation of God to mankind in human form.” I’ve read it marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas, and that it’s the day the famed three Wise Men, or Magi, showed up at Jesus’ manger, at long last. There are religious conotations and controversy, Eastern beliefs disagreeing with Western beliefs. What can ya do?

Wikipedia says “Ancient Liturgies speak of Illuminatio, Manifestatio, Declaratio (Lighting, Manifestation, Declaration)” and I dig these types of words, in general.

In all honesty, I get a headache everytime I attempt to locate a definitive answer on the real meaning of this day.

But it’s as good a day as any to pay homage to the word “Epiphany” – so here you go…

The entry for “EPIPHANY” from Wikipedia!

As a feeling, an epiphany is a sudden realisation or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something. The term is used in either a philosophical or literal sense to signify that the claimant has “found the last piece of the puzzle and now sees the whole picture,” or has new information or experience, often insignificant by itself, that illuminates a deeper or numinous foundational frame of reference.

The word’s secular usage may owe some of its popularity to James Joyce, who expounded on its meaning in the fragment Stephen Hero and the novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Referring to those times in his life when something became manifest, a deep realisation, he would then attempt to write this epiphanic realisation in a fragment. Joyce also used epiphany as a literary device within each short story of his collection Dubliners (1916) as his protagonists came to sudden recognitions that changed their view of themselves or their social condition and often sparking a reversal or change of heart.

For the philosopher, Levinas, epiphany or a manifestation of the divine is seen in another’s face, see face-to-face

In traditional and pre-modern cultures, and up until this day, initiation rites and mystery religions have served as vehicles of epiphany, as well as the arts. The Greek dramatists and poets, would, in the ideal, induct the audience into states of catharsis or kenosis, respectively. In modern times the Dadaist Marcel Duchamp and the Pop Artist Andy Warhol would invert expectations by presenting commonplace objects or graphics as works of fine art, simply by presenting them in a way no one had thought to do before.

Epiphanies have also made possible the existence of technology and the sciences. Famous epiphanies include Archimedes‘ realisation of how to estimate the volume of a given mass, which inspired him to shout “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”)

Among hackers in the proper sense of the word, the word “zen” is used as a verb in the same sense as epiphany, to mean acquiring a sudden comprehension. Similar to grokking, but not done over time. The Zen term kensho would more accurately describe this moment, referring as kensho does, to the feeling attendant on realizing, for example, the answer to the question set by a koan.

Obviously, this word holds a lot of meaning personally for Allen and me. It first represented love, then marriage, then business, and now, in 2007, our efforts to bring it all together in a “Lifestyle Entrepreneur” kind of way.

Though far from the greatest domain name, the word itself is incredible.

Epiphany: that incredible, magical instant when time and space merge, your brain combusts in your favor (for a change), and you see THE ANSWER, THE TRUTH, THE PERFECTION of everything you’ve learned so far, and how it fits exquisitely into your own life’s story. It’s when God Himself smiles upon you – if just for a second – and lets you know you’re on the right track, you’re making progress, you’ve moved up a notch in your mental and spiritual capacities, and everything’s going to be OK. It’s the gift of clarity. And it’s something truly magnificent.

At least, that’s how I see it today, on this simple, mysterious, and wondrous Day of Epiphany.

Oh, happy day!

(Pssst – have you had an epiphany recently in your life or business? We’ve got an “A-Ha! line just for you and we’d love if you’d share it! The number is: (214) 615-6505 Ext. 9488. Don’t be shy – share your epiphany today!)