THE INVITATION

Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Indian Elder

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 your heart’s
longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you can
risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, 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 or 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 sit 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 or 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.

I want to know if you can be faithful 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 Life from Its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours or mine, and
stand still on the edge of a 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 for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you are, 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 truly like the
company you keep in the empty moments.