Unseeing is believing: Hazel Inskip’s thought for the week

‘Perhaps the virus indirectly validates our own experiences of the unseen.’

‘Online Worship is a testament to the need of many of us to relate to the unseen together.’ | Photo: by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

‘If their tonsils have been removed, you will not see them. This is the area you should swab.’ In the early phase of the pandemic, these words were part of instructions to the general public for taking a throat swab from people who couldn’t do it for themselves. The words reminded me of the nursery rhyme ‘Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there! He wasn’t there again today, Oh how I wish he’d go away’.

It made me think about the ‘unseen’, which is such an important part of our lives. Over the past year, our thinking has been dominated by a virus that, despite being unseen by those of us without specialist equipment, has overturned the way we live. As a result, our families and friends have become unseen, though use of online technology has helped some (but not all). There are many friends I have neither seen in person, nor on a screen, for many months. They remain friends nonetheless. The virus has upended our social fabric: we no longer shake hands, hug or kiss people; we skirt round them trying to keep a two-metre distance in a way that prior to the virus would have seemed so rude. More than that, people have died, jobs have been lost, families ruined, work lives changed irrevocably, children’s education damaged and so on. I’ve never seen such a massive change happen almost overnight, being young enough not to have lived through world war two, and fortunate enough never to have had to flee from invading forces.

Some conspiracy theorists argue that the virus can’t be serious. Some of them profess strong religious beliefs. In what do they believe, might one ask, as the divine can’t be seen? The power of the virus is not a power any of us has welcomed, but perhaps it indirectly validates our own experiences of the unseen. As Quakers, we relate to the unseen – that mystery we try to tune into as we centre down in Meeting for Worship. Whatever words we use – God, Spirit, Light, Love – they rarely completely capture the essence of the Truth that is so real for many. For others, like me, even when it so often seems hidden round a corner it can still mean so much. Why do we come to Meeting for Worship? Surely, it’s not just to see people and have a chat afterwards? The various online Meetings for Worship are a testament to the need of many of us to relate to the unseen together, even if we can’t properly see each other. Seeking positive unseens, in Worship or on other occasions, may help us through dark times, provide shared experiences, and enable us to live fuller lives.

One day, round some hidden corner, I hope I’ll find something unseen that ‘wasn’t there again today’.

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