The Invitation

The Invitation

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Inspiration Speak.com
November 10, 2012

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 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.



Ms. Oriah Mountain Dreamer is a Canadian Teacher and
Author and "The Invitation" is taken from the book The
Invitation by Oriah © Mountain Dreaming, published by
HarperONE, San Francisco, 1999 All rights reserved.

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