Willing to be Seen

 

“Seen is I get you…others are engaged and attuned to you and your needs, accepted and known for who you are, experience the delight of others and feel love, valued, welcome.  Seen is a foundation for experiencing soothing.”  Sacred Attachment by Michael John Cusick

Yesterday, I invited you to get out a piece of paper and write down the word “Seen”, and then fill that piece of paper with people, places, events, and experiences where that word would describe what you encountered.  Who “sees” you?  The truth is, we are all really good at wearing masks.  We all have a public persona that we put on when we go out to interact with other featherless bipeds.  Oftentimes, this mask is formed and forged by cultural scripts.  I want to be seen as successful, intelligent, witty, approachable, relaxed, centered, and calm.  On the surface, we can project these qualities.  As Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage,” and we want the Academy Award for best performance in real life.  

But inside the shy soul of all people, there is a stirring and a constant color commentary.  While my face may say “calm”, my brain and heart, and soul may be racing around worse than Chicken Little shouting, “The sky is falling”.  Like a duck gliding gracefully across a pond, we don’t see its webbed feet furiously flapping to propel the duck forward.  We may “see” someone on the surface, but we never really know what is beneath the veneer, the mask, the person wears (see Morning Meditations from October 13 about the Four Spaces).  I think of the great line from the hymn, “The Summons” that goes, “Will you love the you you hide if I (God/Jesus/Spirit) but calls your name?”  

That question takes a lifetime to explore and experiment with.  The reality is that we all have “let down our guard” only to have someone hurt us with words worse than sticks and stones that could break our bones.  Your soul and mine each have the scars of comments someone spoke ~ sometimes that wound hasn’t healed yet.   And so, my inner defense attorney shouts, “Objection!  I can’t let people really see me…what would they think!?!”  Today, I invite you to rewind and review the videotape of life when you showed and shared yourself to others.  The moments you felt fully seen, the times that still make you cringe in pain, and the hurt that hasn’t healed.  May all this be a prayer to the One who knows you before you know yourself.  May all this be held by the One whose love has you.  May all of you, your full public/private/ hidden beautiful beloved self, be seen today through the eyes of God ~ whose gaze delights in you.  Amen.