What steps can you take to encourage an epiphany?

Question

Let's say you found yourself on the verge of having a sudden realization that the world (or some aspect of it) was in fact different than how you had always seen it.

And as much as you know now for certain that you are just about to grasp this new truth, you cannot actually reach it (like when you're just about to sneeze and don't, or when someone asks you the name of a song/movie/actor, that you would know any other time except right when you are asked, and then you think about it all day long until you get it).

What would you do to help encourage yourself to cross the threshold into greater understanding (force the paradigm shift and break free from your paradigm paralysis)?

Answer 1

Start thinking outside of your normal 'box'. Let your mind wander and play with all your thought processes no matter how serious or simple. If you watch much tv, turn it off and listen to radio or vise versa. Go see a movie that you would never normally go to see. When you start being 'outside' of yourself, you will see things differently and break the paradigm paralysis you are experiencing. It works for me, also helps to cure my writer's block.

Answer 2

I don't think anything like an epiphany can be forced to happen. It is like sleep or a good conversation. The way to keep sleep from coming to you is to concentrate very hard on trying to fall asleep. The best way to ruin any chance of having a good heart to heart is to march up to a person and announce "Let's talk!" Epiphanies, like happiness and many other desirable human experiences happen to us when we are very busy attending to something else. If you are very busy studying, say, your history lesson because it is due tomorrow, you may suddenly have a vision of what it must have been like to live at that time. This is just an example.

Answer 3

Have the courage to question your basic assumptions about things. Be open to alternative explanations about known facts. Keep probing until you get down to a fundamental answer and then ask the question: "How do we know that this is true?" Be aware that there may be more than one answer to a question. The accepted answer may not be THE answer, it may only be AN answer.

Lastly have the courage to act on your answer.

Answer 4

I would read research ,and dig out the opposite of what I have always believed and then do nothing.
Nothing !

I would empty myself as much as humanly possible, relax, be still.......
and wait.
These kinds of moments seem to come to me as a surprise, at an unexpected moment and, often without warning.

Answer 5

Try doing something that expands your imagination. Like reading or drawing something.