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 matter to 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.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your 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, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day.

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 a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done.

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 interests 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.”

-Oriah, Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder