[from early 17th cent.: from Latin postumus ‘last’ (superlative from post ‘after’ ), in late Latin spelled posth- by association with humus ‘ground.’]
occurring, awarded, or appearing after the death of death of the originator
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Before I begin my continued rant of epiphanies, I must address a number of issues regarding your last post.
1) Tim, your angst in not "teenage" seeing as a) you're not one (I'm not basing this on age, but solely on maturity), b) teenagers don't rant in such an intellectual manner c) teenagers don't admit they don't know everything and c) you didn't use "like" and "so" every two words. You're not even close to acting like a teenager, not by a long shot. Your concerns are legitimate and I'd love to hear more about what conclusions you come to!
2) I totally said in my last post I was gonna post on Thursday. You didn't need to post today, although your patronage is amazingly admirable.
3) I so totally did use ploidy in my last post, check again! So yeah, like OK, so like, yeah. OK?
OK, on with the conclusion!
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This is James Joyce. He is one of my favorite authors on account of him being all that and a bag of Irish potato chips.
Just look at him! He's got an eyepatch and he's Irish! So awesome!
James Joyce loved epiphanies. He basically is the reason for the modern day definition of epiphanies that I used on Tuesday.
In his posthumously-published novel, Stephen Hero, Joyce states:
"By epiphany -- a sudden spiritual manifestation, whether in the vulgarity of speech or gesture, or in a memorable phrase of the mind itself. He believed that it was for the man of letters to record these epiphanies with extreme care, seeing that the themselves are the most delicate and evanescent of moments"
In almost all of his novels and short stories, the characters come to sudden recognitions or deep realizations about their view of themselves or of society. However, by his definition, the character must then have a change of heart and then act upon their new perspectives. So, for a true epiphany to occur, someone must have a revelation and react upon it. Their mind and actions must be in a plasmogamy together, wholly united towards action.
I recently had a dramatic change of heart just last week, but I have to break away from Joyce's definition at this point. It wasn't a sudden moment of clarity that manifested itself in a single occurrence, but it took a long time for me to come to this.
When I was away at a leadership retreat at camp Qwanoes on the island this past weekend, I was challenged spiritually in so many ways. I realize now that God has been urging me with the same challenge for a while now, since I got back to Trinity, all through the summer and quite possibly through my entire life up to this point.
I was challenged to give my life totally to Him.
I realize this is nothing profound to say at first seeing as this is what every Christian is called to do when they ask Christ into their lives. But I've finally come to a revelation about what that means, at least in my own life.
It means God needs to be in every aspect of my life. Every single thing I do from when I wake up to when I plop back onto my pillow. Again, this isn't anything super mind-blowing to read, but for me, I've finally decided to stop running from this reality, to stop trying to negotiate bargains, to finally surrender myself wholly. This especially relates to my youth group, but it also applies to my academics and to all of my social interactions I have on a daily basis.
I also realized just how difficult it's going to be keep focused on Him. I need to daily recommit myself back to God. In the same way, God has given me epiphanies daily. Every day I learn something new about the world around me. Sometimes it's mundane, sometimes it's profound, sometimes it's really difficult to hear. But I wouldn't give up that knowledge or what it causes for anything in the world.
So that's what I believe the second part of the definition of epiphanies is about. I believe that every revelation, no matter how much of an effect it has, comes from Him. We are given these moments of divine realization, enlightenment and revelation for specific reasons, so we need to keep our eyes open for them and pay attention to what we learn and then change our actions based on that new knowledge.
Anyway, that's my rant on epiphanies. If you anything you want to add or refute, I'd love to hear it.
And thanks for your thoughts today as well. They were challenging as well as carefully constructed. I also loved your pictures too! So cool!
I hope you have a great weekend Tim. Know that I love you as my brother in Christ as well as the amazing friend that you are.
Cheers!
PS I'm still updating next Tuesday as well. It'll be a lot shorter and probably less serious. So don't update that day, I call dibs.
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