Reading Walter Pater, I was reminded a little of James Joyce's idea of finding the divine in the everyday. Pater, to me, seems to be discussing the little everyday miracles, the everyday epiphanies, like the blooming of a flower and the everyday changes made by the elements: "Like the elements of which we are composed, the action of these forces extends beyond us: it rusts iron and ripens corn. Far out on every side of us those elements are broadcast, driven in many currents; and birth and gesture and death and the springing of violets from the grave are but a few out of ten thousand resultant combinations."
Pater also explores the effects of the inner epiphany, as well. Sure, the blooming of violets over the grave is a miracle, but epiphanies in thought are more rare, and more powerful: "the race of the midstream, a drift of momentary acts of sight and passion and thought." Finding a thought that can change your life is much more complicated: to do so, you need to separate it from the millions of others constantly shooting through your brain. Basically, you need to calm down and stop thinking so much. Perhaps then you'll epiphanize...and achieve "success in life."
For some reason this came up when I googled James Joyce and Walter Pater together...I kind of like it.
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