Palma il Giovane, “The Good Samaritan”
Spiritual Sunday
Few Biblical passages seem more relevant these days than these two, one from Leviticus and one from Matthew:
The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:34)
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matthew 24:34-36)
Rumi has a lovely poem about strangers that addresses how Donald Trump has been demonizing the immigrants crossing our borders. While the president characterizes them as rapists, murderers, and future gang members, Rumi says we should invite them in.
Indeed, Rumi goes Trump one further. Even if Trump were not making things up (in point of fact, immigrants commit fewer crimes that native born Americans), we should still welcome strangers because “each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” We should do so, Rumi says, even if they go on to rob us.
To be sure, Rumi appears to be speaking about metaphorical rather than actual strangers in his poem. He is telling us that we should open ourselves to whatever emotions come to us in a given day, whether joy, depression, or meanness. “Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture,” he tells us, “still treat each guest honorably.” What we lose may simply open us up to “some new delight.”
This advice reminds me of a point about depression made in Thomas Moore’s Care of the Soul. We should treat our depression as a gift, Moore argues:
Faced with depression, we might ask ourselves, “What is it doing here? Does it have some necessary role to play?”…
Some feelings and thoughts seem to emerge only in a dark mood. Suppress the mood, and you will suppress those ideas and reflections. Depression may be as important a channel for valuable “negative” feelings, as expressions of affection are for the emotions of love…Melancholy gives the soul an opportunity to express a side of its nature that is as valid as any other, but is hidden out of our distaste for its darkness and bitterness.
Is Rumi’s poem applicable to the current immigrant situation given that his “unexpected visitors” are metaphors for the emotions rather than actual visitors? I would say yes because the Central American immigrants are themselves metaphors in the minds of Trump and his supporters, who project their fears upon them. A video that has gone viral shows a white woman confronting an American-born Latino landscaper, calling him a rapist while he asks her to see the actual person standing in front of her.
When our dark fears feed upon us, we violate our inner holiness. We can move to enlightenment only if we “meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.” This is a truth that applies to psychological upset as well as immigrant policy. It is the key to healtheir selves and a healthier nation.
The Guest House
By Jellaludin Rumi,
Translated by Coleman Barks
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 are 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 whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.