DECLARATION OF NON-INTEREST

 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 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, be  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 be faithful and

therefore be trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life 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 for 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 empty moments.

Oriah

Mountain Dreamer