The Invitation
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer
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.
by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
Note of clarification
by the above author regarding this prose:
>>
From Dreams of Desire, 1995
by Oriah House. All Rights Reserved.
Published by Mountain Dreaming
300 Coxwell Avenue
Box 22546
Toronto, Ontario Canada M4L 2A0
Message from Oriah Mountain Dreamer
While I am pleased that this piece,
The Invitation, has spoken to many others and happy that it is being
shared, I would ask that you honour the original by sharing it as it was
written.
I am a teacher and writer living in
Toronto with my two teenage sons. While my family history includes stories
of Scottish, German and Native American descent I am a Canadian woman, and
not an Indian elder as has sometimes been reported, being neither old
enough nor wise enough to claim the status of elder for any people. I have
had the priviledge of studying with and learning from the wisdom of Native
American elders who gave me the medicine name, Mountain Dreamer. My first
book, Confessions of a Spiritual Thrillseeker, is currently out of print.
I am now working on a book entitled The Invitation, expanding on the
thoughts and teachings held within this smaller piece. Dreams of Desire is
a small collection of poetry available only through Mountain Dreaming.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
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