THE INVITATION<br />by Oriah Mountain Dreamer<br /><br />It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.<br />I want to know what you ache for, and if you<br />dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.<br /><br />It doesn't interest me how old you are.<br />I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool<br />for love,<br />for your dreams,<br />for the adventure of being alive.<br /><br />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,<br />if you have been opened by life's betrayals<br />or have become shriveled and closed from fear of future pain.<br /><br />I want to know if you can sit with pain,<br />mine or your own, <br />without moving to hide it,<br />or fade it,<br />or fix it.<br /><br />I want to know if you can be with joy,<br />mine or your own,<br />if you can dance with wildness<br />and let the ecstasy fill you<br />to the tips of your fingers and toes<br />without cautioning us to be careful,<br />to be realistic,<br />to remember<br />the limitations of being human.<br /><br />It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling <br />me is true.<br />I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself;<br />if you can bear the accusation of betrayal<br />and not betray your own soul;<br />if you can be faithless and therefore<br />trustworthy.<br /><br />I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty,<br />every day,<br />and if you can source your own life from its presence.<br /><br />I want to know if you can live with failure,<br />yours or mine,<br />and still stand on the<br />edge of the lake<br />and shout to the silver of the full moon, "yes!"<br /><br />It doesn't interest me who you know, or how you came to be here.<br />I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.<br /><br />It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. <br />I want to know what sustains you,<br />from the inside,<br />when all else falls away.<br /><br />I want to know if you can be alone<br />with your and if you truly like the company you keep<br />in the empty moments.