We all want to be seen. Our human hearts have always ached for such existential validation, yet it is only now, during this particular moment in history, that this desire has bubbled up into the collective consciousness and people have felt empowered to express their longing. While millennia of repression may at times cause us to demand that others see us in quite superficial ways – as a job, as an ethnicity, as a religious tradition, as a personality, etc. – we can rest assured that our truest identity goes all the way down to the ground of being, the divine, whose ancient name, θεός, comes from a root word which literally means “to see” and “be seen.” Let’s therefore commit to the slow process of learning how to see ourselves. In so doing, we will gradually move beyond, and, in fact, forget our need to be seen. We will simply rest in and be glad “to be.” Ave Crux, Spes Unica.
Hello, While I fully understand what you are saying in this piece and absolutely love the wording, personally I prefer to ascribe to a thought process of I must decrease so that He can increase. Wether it be in action, word or deed, I find being a Martha more rewarding.
This is a great insight! You are correct: while the Christian tradition is not dualistic, human beings have existentially dual identities, we must live in this life alongside and for eternal life. Hence, the image of Martha and Mary, as the active and contemplative dimensions of the soul, is paramount in the Cloud of Unknowing. Your use of Jn 3:30 is excellent. Our active/missionary/seeing life makes us small, precisely so that the Lord might expand in us. And the Lord dwells and grows in us precisely so that the fruits of this contemplation might be shared with others.