What is Heartfelt Hospitality?

What is heartfelt hospitality? A hospitality gesture is an act of helping someone across a threshold. Dante’s Divine Comedy depicts the journey of Virgil lovingly guiding him through hell, purgatory, and the fire of authenticity that he must cross alone to reach authenticity.

The bruised and wondrous life of genuine experience that can only be known by humans is offered to Adam and Eve in Eden, if we can get past the punitive remarks we have heard so often. Bringing kindred spirits into their daily lives is an example of spiritual hospitality.

It is truly the most we can ask of others-without imposition, design, or expectation of reward-that they guide and comfort us on the way. Relationships provide us with the heartfelt hospitality of expressing who we truly are to the world, to friends to help us reach thresholds of truth, and to loved ones to compel us to cross barriers of our own making into moments of full aliveness.

We are welcome at the table without judgment about what we eat. Love often consists of others guiding us as far as they can, without expectation or interference, so that we can begin. When I was ill, I saw narrow, lit spaces at the edge of a forest that reminded me of a dream I had. There were many opportunities before I met an ageless woman of unwavering resolve, who said, “I know you can’t start, but I’m more than kind, and I’ll see you halfway in. You must enter alone.

That strong and gentle guidance was enough for me to make it through, and I never saw her again. I’m not sure if that feminine presence was God, an angel, or my own peace. Now when I love, I’m aware of her presence, and when I clear paths others I may or may not follow, I feel her in my hands.

Through the action of compassion, which is one of our deepest calls of love, those suffering from pain can heal themselves. This mysterious and ardent call clears confusion and comforts the heart by giving truth and reality. Our turn is to raise the head of the one who has fallen, bracing their exhausted neck to drink while knowing we cannot drink for them.

• Take a deep breath, and think about an act of comfort and guidance you received without expecting anything in return.

• Take a moment to express your gratitude for that gesture of hospitality as you exhale.

• Feel yourself guiding without interfering as you inhale. Take stock of your own ability to comfort others without asking for anything in return.

• Consider leaving a gesture of kindness or truth on other people’s paths as you enter the day. You can leave a flower on a bus seat or a book open to a passage of wisdom where the homeless gather.

• Your identity leaves a trail for the world to follow.