Tag: Moby Dick

[…] His vast, mild head overhung by a canopy of vapor, engendered by his incommunicable contemplations, and that vapor—as you will sometimes see it—glorified by a rainbow as if Heaven itself had put its seal upon his thoughts. For, d’ye see, rainbows do not visit the clean air; they only irradiate vapor. And so, through all the thick mists of the dim doubts in my mind, divine intuitions now and then shoot, enkindling my fog with a heavenly ray. And for this I thank God; for all have doubts; but doubts or denials, few along with them, have intuitions.
— H. Melville, 1851, Moby-Dick, Chapter 85

I can’t express how much this last sentiment resonated with me … this is exactly the feeling when you’re looking for a solution to a problem for days and in one moment: there it is; the solution laid out so clearly … when God lifts the cloak of ignorance for a second, allowing you an insight into what seemed incomprehensible just moments ago … a flash of insight sparking, kindling further thoughts … fearing it will dim out before it can be burned into memory … *sigh* those moments -.-