The Invitation...

As I sat today waiting for an important research meeting, I glanced on the shelf of one of our partners. The book The Invitation by Oriah "Mountain Dreamer" sat captivatingly singing to me. ...

I saw these words she had written

and was so deeply moved. .....

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.

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 of

or 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

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

Beautyeven 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 meand not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me

where or what

or with whomyou 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.