An Introduction to the Epic Reality

Within the short term of my life up to this point, I've come face to face with a reality that exists apart from the "real world" we normally recognize. It exists between the layers of typical reality, given form by our day to day actions and attitudes; it is the life we live reflected back to us in a mirror, shaded a different color than we have always believed. I like to think of this otherness as the Epic Reality.

Does the term seem a trifle pompous to you? Perhaps it is, but I have always had an affinity for dramatic language, and in this instance I believe it is well warranted.

The first step in apprehending the Epic lies in a fundamental diversion from mainstream perception of the "real world," or the Mundane. To understand the Epic, you must open your mind to the idea of the unseen, the possibility that there is always more going on than may be percieved with your own five senses. I do not speak of a spiritual realm, although belief in such a place is one way of interpreting the Epic. Rather, the unseen might be described as the true subtext of life, the plane on which all things reach their absolute philosophical and moral value.

Yes, belief in a moral system is a must for this type of interpretation. Anarchy of conscience has no place in the Epic, only concepts clearly labeled in black & white, with shades of grey between. Whether morality dictates spiritualism is a debate best left for another day; for the moment, let us focus once again on discerning the Epic.

The Epic Reality as I have come to understand it stems not from our direct actions in this world, but rather from our perceptions of these actions, and the attitudes that drive them. A person living in the Mundane might make a short trip to a corner drugstore in the middle of the night, never thinking his actions or setting were anything other than commonplace. If the same individual were living in the Epic, an alteration of perception might open his mind to the possibilities of what is truly going on around him.

What consequences do our actions have outside the predictable cause & effect system with which we have accustomed ourselves? Can the attitude with which we approach a task somehow bleed through into the work itself, so that a painting done in anger retains some intangible remnant of the artist's avarice? Does state of mind dictate state of being, and does state of being influence the fabric of existence? These are questions touching the core of what it means to live in the Epic.

Answers, sadly, are slow in coming. The Epic is not a state of completion, it is a state of existence, and existence is an ever-changing creature. What might in one instant seem obvious may be in the next completely beyond mental grasp, so that we are left to rely mainly upon intuitive judgement.

This is an opportunity presented to all, yet apprehended by few. To live in the Epic Reality, one must cast off the chains of conventional, materialistic reason--however comforting--and spread the wings of the soul to catch unseen winds of realization. To apprehend is not to comprehend, and we will do well to remember this; questions will multiply while answers remain few, overshadowed by the certainty of knowing without understanding.

Come with me, and let us journey through the midst of the Epic.