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!
How many times today will we get what we want?
How many times today will we get what we don't want?
In the The Guest House, Rumi names one 'good' visitor (joy) and five 'bad' ones (depression, meanness, dark thought, shame, malice). Which ones will we meet today? What's the ratio between 'good' and 'bad' likely to be?
One of the great towering baffling questions in this being human is "How in the world can we welcome and entertain them ALL?"
Rumi suggests it's possible to live in an ever-available state of Sacred Irony. Irony:
"Something that seems deliberately contrary to what we expect--yet is often wryly amusing."
Sacred Irony is the opposite of bitter irony--a grim smile stretched across a feeling that yet again fate is against is.
Sacred Irony is the way to laugh with God. A way to be with God. An outrageous way to meet today's pains-in-the-butt not peeking through a window curtain but standing in an open door laughing!
It's hard to laugh and be miserable at the same time. Maybe it's even impossible.
Maybe it's not the least bit hypocritical to laugh, to smile deep down inside meanness, dark thoughts, shame, malice--even depression, when it's not clinical. Laughter in the face of the day's usual suspects is a powerful way to embody faith, trust, courage and compassion.
Start with a smile. A wry smile. Feel your mouth begin to spread, your cheeks rise, your dimples deepen. Go with it. Open to the irony. Open to the Sacred.
Maybe you've heard the saying, "Wanna make God laugh? Make plans!"
We never get days exactly as we've planned. Wouldn't it be transforming--laughing with God instead of bemoaning our fate?
The only reason Rumi encourages this is because he found it helpful. And he found it possible.
