The Invitation

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer 

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 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 been 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 does not 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 is not pretty, every day,

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!’.

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 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 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 empty moments.

As hatred rules, a prayer for our country...check out this link...

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=M5OVMrad5iQ

How often we read a book, over and over again ... and, yet, miss the point!

Ever since I recieved the copy of The Dawn Club book -- 'VAACHAS CHAME', I must have read it at least four times. I had really liked it; but, never did it make as much sense as it made to me yesterday.

I had gone to face an interview, yesterday. I am, essentially, a shy and nervous person. I have been making every affort to over come my shyness and build my self-confidence ... by reading books, attending Workshops, talking to supporting people and so on. Yet, my basic traits have stayed in me.

So, in spite of my home work, I came back from the interview, disappointed and crest-fallen.

At home, I picked the book -- 'VAACHAS CHAME', just to burry in it my anguish. And, lo!

It was making a different sense to me. I was reading it with my new eyes ... and, I was able to see a new hope.

Sometimes, anguish and pain are the mediums through which God helps us to learn and grow ... That's the way He toughens us ... prepares us for 'greater' things.

I am sure, my shyness has something 'nice' in store for me. I realised it last night, when I was reading 'VAACHAS CHAME'.

-- Vikram Nagarajan