Two Years of Travelling

October 15th, 2003 at 12:00am

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 hearts desire.
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 dreams, 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 and 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 ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us to be careful, realistic,
or 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.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine,
and still stand on the edge of a lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon: Yes !

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 within
when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself
and if you truly love the company you keep
in the empty moments.”

-ORIAH, Mountain Dreamer
Indian Elder

Entry Filed under: Chiang Mai,North,Thailand