I want to know
... what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
... if you will risk looking like a fool 

for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

I want to know
... if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow
... if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled 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.

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 at 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 the 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 will stand in the centre 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.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,