[Charles Rykken]

Sorry about the delay in my reply. I have been up in Maine helping my older brother out of an existential crisis I can’t go into detail on a public forum as I may lay myself open to a slander lawsuit but I can say my brother nearly died during the whole mess. My younger brother and I (along with one of my younger brother’s sons) spent some time helping him get matters straightened out.

But getting to your point. The way it works for me is best analogized by a lifting fog. In the early stages I can only see myself clearly but as the fog lifts the sunlight picks out the more reflective parts of the scene, but there comes a point where it all snaps into place even though the fog still covers up most of the scene. This is a common occurrence while learning a new subject. In real life where there is no script, it comes suddenly like bolt out of the blue. An example is when I was nine years old and was studying world history. When I looked at Cortez and Pizarro I saw in a flash that the government of Ferdinand and Isabella was nothing more than a gangster operation. A year later at age ten, I saw that violence was stupid and only proved who was stronger, it created hatred and a desire for revenge. Violence begets violence. With nuclear weapons proliferating across the globe, I had another epiphany. I took a sacred vow to non-violence. That was in 1958. These major epiphanies have been few but when they come it is like a thunderclap when a crack in the clouds opens up to let the light shine in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8-BT6y_wYg