The Invitation
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to
know what you ache for,
and if you dare to dream of meeting your
heart's longing.
like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if
you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by
life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to
hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with
wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without
cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being
human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you
can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of
betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if
you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the
edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary
and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know
if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to
know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the
company you keep in the empty moments.
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
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