Monday, December 31, 2007

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer: A Deeper Conversation

"The Invitation" was sent to me via my high school batch Yahoo groups email. This was the first time I've heard or read it, which goes to show that so many things --- good things -- are out there waiting to be discovered, read, internalized, etc. etc.

This short prose-poem, as the author described it, came about via deeper understanding of what she really wanted to know about a person she was having a conversation with. Not the usual dreary and the usual information about a person: what they do for a living... where they live... etc. While these questions are valid in normal conversations, obviously these are just exploratory in nature. To really understand the person, one must spent time and effort to connect.

Here is an excerpt from the invitation, to read full version click title page or here:

"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, 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 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 beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence."

Thanks to Maria for sharing this insight.

1 comment:

FilMasons NSW said...

You are welcome. The author wrote a book and really broke it down on what she meant when she wrote each verse. It is an awesome book to reflect on your own footprints in life and to learn to celebrate the little things about who you are.

The book is written just like the poem in a way that your Soul already knows it but is awaken because the author brings you the lessons you already know and learned but have forgotten.

Readers will find themself in her experiences. Each chapter has a meditation guide to allow the reader to dive in deeper.

I believe it is a 3 part series: The Invitation, The Dance, The Call.I am half way with the Invitation. I can't hurry myself through it. It is a like decadent dessert...I just want to savor it.
Hope to inspire others too.


Maria