This beautiful poem by the Sufi poet Rumi seemed a perfect postscript for the previous post “How Insight and Loving-kindness Free Us from Mental Parasites.” And the music of “Cry, Cry, Cry” (Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams) seemed an appropriate way to wrap up the post. Enjoy!

May we all skillfully and compassionately attend the “guests” of our human being!

Learn the Alchemy True Human Beings Know!

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 attend 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. Welcome difficulty. Learn the alchemy True Human Beings know: the moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door opens. Welcome difficulty as a familiar comrade. Joke with torment brought by a Friend. Sorrows are the rags of old clothes and jackets that serve to cover, and then are taken off. That undressing, and the beautiful naked body underneath, is the sweetness that comes after grief.

Click to hear “By Way of Sorrow” by Cry, Cry, Cry (Richard Shindell, Lucy Kaplansky, and Dar Williams): https://mettarefuge.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/07-by-way-of-sorrow.mp3

Buy at iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/by-way-of-sorrow/id326890174?i=326890196

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