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 the 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 in
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 matter to 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,everday, 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!"
I 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 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 company of empty
moments
"The Invitation" Oriah Mountain Dreamer