An epiphany can be a sudden revelation, a view we have never seen before.
How we view the world is as much the result of the culture we live in as it is the language we speak. Our worldviews are given to us as we are nurtured, educated, and enculturated—first by our family, then by our church and schools, and then by the many other institutions with which we interact throughout our lives. The culture and community around us give us a framework for much of what we know to be true or normal to us.
Consider a cube. Which face is the opening? How we see the cube informs us of its possibilities. How we see the world informs us of our life’s possibilities. There are certain things about the world that we know are true based on how or where we see the world opening before us. Understanding how very different perspectives (or what is true) can be for different people is an epiphany.
This message is excerpted from “Epiphany: Unfolding the Discovery,” by Inez Torres Davis, a 2009 Women of the ELCA resource.
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