If no one is looking at you, are you invisible? Are you present in the world only when you are seen?
Do we seek out relationship with others in order to have someone bear witness to our life?
I send this question into the void, imagining it drifting through vast and dark spaces, buffeted by lonely winds, seeking an answer on which to settle.
solitude + inspiration
When I first saw your post the first thing that came to mind was the wave function collapse described by quantum mechanics, but I decided you were probably posing the question in a more philosophic context (correct me if I'm wrong - perhaps I read too much science fiction as a child).
ReplyDeleteBut it is a valid question. There are times in my life I've felt invisible through no effort on my part.
Do we seek out relationship with others in order to have someone bear witness to our life?
I hope not. Well, at least not entirely. I would like to think it is because we gain something when we share our life's experiences. I wouldn't want to live in a (completely) "Hey, look at me!" world. Of course, that may explain Facebook and Twitter...
I can't say I have an answer. Maybe another part of the void can enlighten us.
P. S.
On a less serious note, I do believe some people think they are invisible - such as when talking loudly on their cell phone in normally quiet places like the doctor's office.
You are quite right: I was not thinking about quantum mechanics. I'm not sure that I have ever thought of quantum mechanics! The wave function collapse sounds intriguing, though I'm probably imagining it to be something very other from what it really is.
DeleteI agree with you about the 'look at me' mentality encouraged by social media. And also about the invisible loud talkers. Don't they realize that though we can't see the person they are talking to, we can, in fact, see them, and more to the point, hear them? Honestly! A mobile phone should come with a cone of silence. Is there an app for that?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on invisibility. It's a question I've been pondering lo these many days.
seriously philosophical so early in the morning.. I think it is most often when I am in a crowd of people that it would seem to me I'm invisible
ReplyDeleteand it is when I am absent, therefore not visible to anyone, that they clamour for my presence and thus become visible..
so now to the serious part, I am always and at all times present in this world and utterly, completely visible to the One who made me ––
who btw gave Adam his Eve.. which translates into sharing your life with another.. relationships occur on many levels though..
The seeking out part, for me is less of a 'need' more the desire to share myself, the talents, gifts, I have received.. seeking relationship for me is also
to 'receive' the presence of the other.. which answers the question in that it leads back to the original question; I am in this world ––
Good answers, all. There is much to reflect on here.
DeleteAh the 'tree in the forest' question. Such a good ponderance. My thoughts are that personhood and presence can't ever depend on whether we are seen, because that would mean unborn children, cloistered people, hermits and others who generally don't live in society aren't present or real people. Sometimes I think the unseen ones are more real, more present, because they have filtered out all the distractions that tend to lead those of us in society into selfish places of our own making. That being said, we are, each one of us, made for communion - deep, intimate communion with others and most especially with God. While we can be badly treated by others - as if we were invisible or without personhood - that treatment is below the dignity with which we have been gifted. We have never been, neither will we ever be alone or unseen or suddenly become an un-person. God is with us every moment, and it is he alone who decides what a human life is worth - no other person can do that. And what he says goes...no take-back-sies.
ReplyDeleteWell, Miss Sarah, you brought the question into perspective! A very good reminder to me of what is what. Mille grazie
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