The Guest House by Jalaluddin Rumi

(Translated by Coleman Banks)

If you have read the last blog, you will have read about the idea of parts of ourselves and how useful it can be to refer to a feeling or thoughts, as ‘part of me feels’. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you do before you read on.

This poem can be read as the Self welcoming all our parts with gratitude and compassion:

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 honourably.
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.
 
*or she…