Where Jesus is, the Great-Hearted Gather.
We are a door that's never locked.
If you are suffering any kind of pain, stay near this door.
Open it.
Though the door is never locked, opening it is not exactly something we control. Perhaps, remembering what Jesus said is a key:
Knock and the door will be opened.
And there are other doors, related doors, practice doors, that we do control--or at least doors that we might learn to open (and open, and open).
The author of those 4 lines above the church door in Iran is the poet Rumi. His poem, The Guest House, offers some of the best door-opening wisdom a person can get.
Many of us know this poem--we see it quoted a lot. I hope its familiarity won't dull another reading. It's a poem of the Great-Hearted. And a perfect poem for us Great-Hearted folks in-traning too.
This being
human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
If we take this to heart, if we welcome and entertain and meet and laugh and are grateful for whoever comes, pretty soon we'll know what it's like to be a door that's never locked. Our hearts will grow. We won't really notice who's on which side of the door anymore.
This 'welcoming and entertaining them all' is at the heart of mindfulness practice and centering prayer and spiritual formation of all kinds. Learning how it works, practicing this non-judgmental kind of welcome, is one of the things that makes a heart literally greater--bigger, more stretchable.
We practice on our own, sitting or walking quietly, welcoming whatever comes. Seeing thoughts and feelings clearly for what they are without judging or shooing them away. Welcoming whatever comes with honesty and warmth.
We practice with others, watching how our minds resist or ignore people we interact with, noticing--and then letting go of--our own clutter in order to make room for another person's clutter! And beneath that their unique and precious self.
We are a door that's never locked.
Welcome and entertain them all.
Come to me all you who are weary and burdened.
Who says this? Who practices this?
Who opens the door that's never locked?
