Image is a fairly common Idea light bulb one on google.
First post outside of my Introduction post. I just wrote my train of thought onto the post. Not sure how interesting it will be, and I'm pretty sure I could have written it better. So if you have tips for my writing (or images I could potentially use in my writing), please comment.
Epiphanies, What I used to think about them was that they were those moments of inspiration that scientists or philosophers used to decide "Oh! That's how this works." and start their incredible theories about how the world works. What I was thinking recently is a bit different though. Yes they do include those incredible moments, but I've taken epiphanies to be something that bridges the gap between understanding something and 'knowing' something. For instance, Someone could have their family and friends tell them, "You are really smart!" and understand that they are pretty intelligent. That they show a lot of knowledge on some important subjects, that people look at them and go, 'he might figure this out fast.'
Despite understanding that though, it won't change how they act at all. They won't work harder then they would have before, or decide to laze around coasting on their intelligence, or change anything about how they act. Because despite understanding 'I'm smart' they don't feel any different, so it doesn't have any impact. Then, one day their head clears and they go 'Oh! I am smart.' Maybe they are seeing how someone else does on the same problem, or helping someone with homework, or maybe they are sitting at home eating a sandwich. But after this one moment, this 'Epiphany', they start looking at the world a little different compared to before. Maybe they become a little more helpful to people around them so that the people who don't think the same as them can reach the same ideas. Or maybe they decide to look down on other people for not being able to draw the same conclusions. The point is they act a bit differently because they have consciously noticed that they are smart. They 'know' that they are more intelligent than the average person. On the flip side of the coin if they have an epiphany that they are an idiot, no one will be able to convince them that they aren't without several years of work.
Now, why epiphanies are associated with big things like figuring out how gravity works or interesting philosophy is because those are some of the best examples of them. Newton, according to the myth, watched an apple fall and went "the apple is falling because its pulled to the earth." and decided to figure out how to share that. People have known about gravity for far longer than that. But understanding that gravity exists and how it causes things to fall is different from knowing how gravity works and deciding to give an explanation on why it works.
This is one of the major differences I can think of between famous scientists and philosophers and your average person. A scientist goes, "oh this is how it works" and then decides to share. He might have been the first person to realize this, so of course he should share! But then, in order to share with the scientific community, he has to come up with a set of rules that this seems to follow. This leads to a lot of research on whatever he had a epiphany about and can lead to amazing ideas getting spread. Your average grocery store worker isn't going to share personal thoughts on themselves or the universe with others easily.
Another side affect of epiphanies is stubbornness. I know it sounds weird, but think about it, a lot of scientists and philosophers have gone against what the world believes in at that time. You can't show the type of dedication to sit here and tell people, "the earth orbits the sun"in a culture that believes the universe orbits the earth unless your stubborn. But its hard not to be stubborn when you 'know' that's how it works. There are a lot of times that an epiphany is not as clear cut as "objects fall down because the earth pulls them." or "I'm smart!" Like if you had the epiphany that "aliens exist, because in an infinite universe, unless the chance is zero, it has happened somewhere." nobody can prove or disprove your opinion. However, you 'know' it is the truth, so you believe in aliens.
Now I've been trying to think of a way to draw a conclusion to this post that actually makes sense, but I just couldn't. Its really hard to think up an end to just a train of thought that you were thinking about as you were writing. So this is conclusion. Epiphanies are moments of sudden insight that can make you incredibly stubborn, whether they are true or false, or un-provable. They are useful in science, philosophy, art, literature, and probably religion because those are groups of people who like to record and share this type of inspiration or use it for whatever they are working on. They are not uncommon, or always right. But they are important and impossible to ignore for the person who is having them. I hope this was informative as far as how I think they work and some good examples of them that have appeared in the past.