Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer


[best read aloud, over and over until you feel every word.]


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.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking 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 centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled 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, be realistic, 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 is 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 at 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 centre 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.


~~~~~

Thanks to my dear dear friend Alyssa, for sending me this poem, which came my way long ago, but I'd since forgotten. It's the perfect timing, indeed, since over here asking myself these questions daily. And you? What would you want to know, if you could know anything at all about the deep & daring heart of the matter?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is one of my favorites!! so beautifully challenging...thank you for the reminder today.

teryll said...

One of my favorite lines...

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

beautiful. simply beautiful.

Dev said...

I love this so hard. Who wrote it?

kabod said...

Thank you, Rachael. For this post and for all of your posts. Your energy is the cosmic jolt this body & soul need on a regular basis. I read your stuff often, but don't comment much. But it helps me to know you're out there...being.
I almost took you up on the coaching offer, but wimped out with excuses you don't really want to hear. Maybe this summer. (guess what? I'm going back to the rez on Friday for a week...wahoo!)

By the way, Dev, this amazing prose poem was written by Oriah. It's from Invitation which is on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Invitation-Oriah/dp/product-description/0062515845

Peace and joy in the journey,
Aram