Feeling Unseen

If you were totally and completely seen and heard, what would that give you? As human beings living in relationships with each other, we play many different roles: partner, mother, father, son, daughter, or co-worker. In these roles, we may have the experience of not being seen or feeling invisible. In this inquiry, Gangaji takes us into the direct experience of “not being seen” to discover what is actually not being seen.

Transcript

You may never be seen as Jackie,

As a child of God,

As a human being in the way that you have formulated you need to be seen,

The way that all of us want to be seen,

But at the core,

At the root,

You can be who you are and you can see that.

Hello and welcome to Being Yourself,

Self Inquiry with Gangaji.

My name is Barbara Denempont.

As always,

I think you know I'm very happy to be with you listening to these gems from Gangaji's recording archives.

I just found a wonderful exchange on a topic that I think is very relatable,

The experience of feeling invisible,

Feeling unseen.

Good morning.

Blessings upon you.

Oh,

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I many times feel invisible.

People don't hear me,

People don't see me,

And it's almost like I'm not supposed to be here.

I'm in the right place at the wrong time or something,

I'm not sure what it is.

I'm still,

I'm a late bloomer,

So I'm still fairly new on the spiritual path.

I'm getting there,

But,

And I know I've learned a lot and opened a lot and released a lot of junk,

But I still can't seem to get past this feeling invisible,

Which makes it difficult on the relationships I have because I don't really pay attention to people because I'm trying to figure out what I can say so they only hear me.

Well they're there but I'm,

You know,

My mind is somewhere else and then I interrupt a lot because it's like,

Oh my god,

I have to say something so someone will hear me or see me.

And so do they say,

Are you listening to me?

Yes,

That's what they say to me.

And it's like,

No I'm not,

But I,

You know,

At least I'm honest about it.

Yeah,

Very good.

But I don't know what to do to get past the invisible.

So if you were totally,

Completely seen and heard,

What would you have?

What would that give you?

I would know that people recognized me for who I am and what I am.

And who are you?

What are you?

What am I?

I am a child of God,

I'm precious.

So if you never heard of God or a child,

Who are you?

I'm Jackie.

And if you'd never been named Jackie?

I'm a person,

I'm a human being with fears and… And even closer than human,

If you didn't know for sure if you were human.

You know that you are,

Right?

You said human being,

But if we just drop the human part too.

I mean,

You are,

I'm a being,

And you are named Jackie,

And I understand all of that,

But we're going closer into the core,

Rather than going out,

God,

And child of God,

And Jackie,

Human being,

Just a being.

What do you see when you see being?

I have this little thing of fear in my gut.

Ah,

Perhaps fear,

Fear of being,

Fear to be.

So can you open to that fear?

Yeah.

Or what do you… It's scary.

Yeah,

It's scary,

But if you open to scariness,

Is it scary?

No,

I think you eventually get through it,

And you have to go through it.

But what I'm interested in is what you're actually directly experiencing in this moment,

So that this is not another class for you,

This is actually a direct experience.

So we know that you are being,

And if,

Or when I suggested you open to being,

Fear arose.

Nothing wrong with any of that,

Whatever,

There are no right answers here.

Right.

I really want you to know that,

That you can welcome fear.

It's not right,

And it's not wrong that it's here,

It's fear that's here.

You can let it be here,

Even more.

What's that?

What are you experiencing?

Well,

I don't have the fear,

I don't feel that clutch anymore.

Yeah,

That's the nature of willingness,

Or someone just said permission,

You have permission or space,

But we don't give our own feelings or experiences permission or space.

We don't see them.

So in your willingness to see it all the way,

To meet it,

It's not a clutching.

What is it?

What do you experience when the clutching is gone?

What's here?

Just peacefulness,

It's open.

And is that peacefulness separate from you?

No,

That peacefulness is me.

That's right,

That's the truth.

And if that peacefulness is never seen by anyone else,

Is that peacefulness less peaceful?

No.

That's the truth.

So there's your choice point.

You may never be seen as Jackie,

As a child of God,

As a human being,

In the way that you have formulated you need to be seen,

The way that all of us want to be seen.

But at the core,

At the root,

You can be who you are and you can see that from being who you are.

So I need to let go of the need to be seen as who I think I am.

Okay.

That's a burden.

Yeah.

To let go of the way you think you need to be seen and discover how you are being seen.

First of all by yourself and then see how big yourself is as being.

There are a limited number of Jackies in the world,

There are a limited number of human beings in the world,

But do you know the limit of beingness?

Yeah.

That's you.

That's who you are.

Do you see you're being seen?

Yes.

Definitely.

Yeah.

And do you see when you look out?

I see lots of smiling,

Accepting faces.

Yeah.

Well,

You're probably somebody somewhere you are.

Some people aren't smiling,

But.

But so,

So that's maybe the key then.

If somebody is not smiling at you,

Are you willing to still see them as being?

So you're not,

So Jackie means something to you,

Human being means something to you,

And then of course body language and facial expressions mean something to us.

That's part of our survival mechanism is to be able to read faces and body language.

So,

But just before you open the book of the face,

Or just after you've opened it and say,

Well that person's not smiling,

Are you willing to look closer than the words that the frown or the,

To find yourself,

To find beingness?

Because that's who you are,

You are beingness.

Find yourself everywhere.

Then you are being seen,

Aren't you?

Yes.

Yes.

You are being seen because you are seeing,

Not you are seeing because you are being seen.

Because you've already been seen now.

And don't worry about this beginning on the spiritual path.

Beginning is the purest form.

Then we start to learn what we should be feeling,

What we should be saying,

We learn the words,

We learn the text,

We can chant the sutras,

The mantras.

Better to always return to the beginning.

And that's before you had a name,

Before you'd ever heard the word human,

Before you knew the differences in gender.

Just being,

Just I am.

It's very simple then.

I am.

Yes,

You are,

You are.

And you are conscious that you are.

And you never have to say another word.

You can be invisible and still know you,

All you are seeing,

All that is being seen,

Is who you are.

Invisibility is a great city.

Actually people try to get invisible.

Well I can understand that sometimes,

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I know that particular loop,

As I'm sure many of you do,

Whether it's with family members,

Or lovers,

Or friends,

Or husbands,

Or teachers,

Or fellow students,

Why won't they see me as I am?

I remember Papaji,

I went to see Papaji once and I took off all my makeup and I wasn't going to fix myself up because he wouldn't even see me,

See me.

I went into his house and he went,

Oh,

So perfect,

So perfect.

Because that version of I want him to see me as I am was still,

So it was the name,

The form,

And then that was the fixation,

That was my identity as this one who has prevailed in the midst of all suffering.

And it really is,

It's finally nauseating,

You know.

And it worked,

You know,

I had used someone recoiling from my drama before to just go into more drama,

But in that moment it worked.

Because what am I doing?

What am I doing?

What am I playing?

What role am I playing?

What am I identified with here?

When I say see me as I am,

What is it I'm offering that I am?

And in an instant then it's just oneself.

What a wonderful inquiry in feeling unseen,

What are we not seeing?

That is such a great flip.

Now before I sign off here,

I want to mention that if you're interested in attending a live online event with Gangaji,

Her next monthly meeting is being held this Sunday,

February 13th at 11 a.

M.

Pacific Time.

You can find out more about how to join Gangaji and the global community in a conversation at gangaji.

Org.

That's G-A-N-G-A-J-I dot O-R-G.

And of course if you have any topic suggestions for me,

Just please send them to me,

Barb,

At info at gangaji.

Org.

My thanks to all who make this podcast possible.

I'm Barbara Denepont.

Until next time.

Reviews

So lovely. Need to listen again. This touched me this morning. Thank you.

🤩wow thank you GG

Excellent! I can relate for sure
Thanks to Gangaji

🙏🏼💜

Incredible. Thank you 😊

This really hit home and confirmed for me the inner guidance of had recently to let go of my desire to be “seen”, “heard”, “understood”, “known”, or however I was sensing a lack in my relationships. And…what a relief comes with the letting it go!
Blessings All 🙏

Insightful

Great

Really made me feel seen!!
Thank you

Precious!

This is wonderful thank you so much ❤❤❤❤

I’ll be listening to this over and over again! Thank you.

Wow. An excellent teaching.
Grateful to have found it

Gagaji always brings us back to the truth of who we are. This exchange takes us beyond ego identification and into our essence. Thank you.

Very good exchange. What I needed to hear this morning.

Truly poignant. How truthful and even in this message , I am thinking what I think I want to be seen....
This has blown my mind to get to my core. Thank you sincerely 🙏 x