Dancing in the Fire - Oriah

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 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.

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 sliver of the full moon, "Yes!"

 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 for the children,
[or your elderly parents, your spouse, or a dying loved one.]

It doesn't matter to me who you know or how you came to
be here.  I want to know if you will stand at the center
of the fire with me and not shrink back.
[can you meet me there...]

[This - is Friendship]

Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Original title - "The Invitation"
from - The Invitation

[brackets mine]

~

Vortex Art - Mystic Meandering
Woman Dancing in the Fire
(as seen from overhead)

~

"No one cares how much you know
until they know how much you care."

attributed to Theodore Roosevelt,
although no one really knows the
true author...

 

The Dance - Oriah

 

“Don’t tell me how wonderful things will be…someday. Show me you can risk being completely at peace, truly okay with the way things are right now in this moment, and again in the next and the next and the next… Here is the question: Are you willing to be completely at peace with how things are right now in your life? Are you willing for just one moment to let go of all your dissatisfaction, of all your suffering about how things are? Are you willing to let go of all the worry and tension in your body and simply breathe? I think of happiness as the delight I have when I am aware of being completely at peace and fully present with myself and the world just the way it is in this moment. It is a lack of suffering plus a self-reflectivity that makes the peace I am feeling a conscious state of awareness. I am not simply at peace, I am aware that I am at peace—happy. So, are you willing to be happy?”

“If I want to live my ability to be fully present and compassionate, my ability to be with it all—the joy and the sorrow—I must find the ways, the people, the places, the practices that support me in being all I truly am. I must cultivate ways of being that let me feel the warmth of encouragement against my heart when it is weary.”

“What if the task is simply to unfold, to become who you already are in your essential nature—gentle, compassionate, and capable of living fully and passionately present? How would this affect how you feel when you wake up in the morning?”

Excerpts from - The Dance: Moving to the Deep Rhythms of Your Life
Oriah Mountain Dreamer

 

The Invitation - Oriah

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 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....dance with wildness and
let 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 hear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your
own soul...

I want to know if you can see beauty, even if it's not pretty,
every day, and if you 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 the
night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone,
and do what needs to be done...

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be
here.  I want to know if you can 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
From: The Invitation

~

Art - Woman Dancing in the Fire
(looking down from above, her arms and hands held out
in front of her)
Done with Craypas oils and fingers

c.2012

 

Embracing Your Wholeness - Oriah

Embracing your wholeness is the greatest gift you can give...

Christine Wushke
Freely Human

~

All things are made of the same sacred presence - stillness...

All things emanate from and return to and are never
separated from a vast sacred wholeness...

This spaciousness that we are is not indifferent to the
suffering that we feel when we have forgotten what we are.
It reaches out to us, calls to us...

It is the Great Mystery.
It is what we are made of, and what everything and everyone
is made of.  It is what we participate in with every breath...

We will never be happy or truly be able to live and love fully
until we find our way of living from an awareness of the deep
stillness at the center of what we are... 
- Our Essential Nature -
which is wakefulness, awareness, love, peace, truth , beauty...

Look at your own life from within, that sense of quiet stillness
that you are.  You will see this inner essence, this innocence,
like a bright thread woven throughout the center of your life.

Living it consciously is why you are here...

Oriah Mountain Dreamer
From: The Call

~

Photo from a greeting card

 

"Freinds" - Oriah

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 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.

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 sliver 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 for
the children, [or your elderly parents, your spouse, or a
dying loved one].

It doesn't matter to me who you know or how you came
to be here.  I want to know if you will stand at the center
of the fire with  me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or with whom you have
studied, [what your title is, or "spiritual" status].  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.

[This - is Love].

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Original Title - "The Invitation"

[brackets mine]

~

Photo - 5 baby raccoons:)
The Mama is on the other side of the fence
coaxing them over...
early June 2020

The Invitation - Oriah

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 hear the accusation of betrayal and not
betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore
trustworthy.

I want to know if you cans see beauty, even if it's not pretty,
every day, and if you 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 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 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

From: The Invitation

~

Art - Woman Dancing in the Fire
(looking down from above, her hands held out in front of her)
Done with Craypas oils and fingers.

c. 2012

Embrace Your Wholeness - Oriah

Embracing your wholeness is the greatest gift you can give...
Christine Wushke
Freely Human

~

All things are made of the same sacred presence - stillness...
All things emanate from and return to and are never
separated from a vast and sacred wholeness...

This spaciousness that we are is not
indifferent to the suffering that we feel
when we have forgotten what we are.
It reaches out to us, calls to us...

It is the Great Mystery.
It is what we are made of,
and what everything and everyone
is made of.
It is what we participate in
with every breath...

We will never be happy
or truly able to live and love fully
until we find our way of living
from an awareness of the deep stillness
at the center of what we are
- our essential nature -
which is wakefulness, awareness,
love, peace, truth and beauty...

Look at your own life from within,
that sense of quiet stillness
that you are.
You will see this inner essence,
this innocence,
like a bright thread
woven throughout the center
of your life.

Living it consciously is why you are here...

Oriah
From: The Call

(Oriah's words, my format)

Courage - Oriah & O'Donohue...

I must find the ways, the people, the places, the practices
 that support me in being all
I truly am.

I must cultivate ways of being that let me feel the warmth
 of encouragement against
my heart when it is weary.
I must be fiercely and compassionately honest
with myself  about those choices and actions
that are inconsistent with my essential nature...
I must find the song lines that run through
my life, the melodies that remind me of what
I really am and call me gently back to
acting on this knowing.
I must learn to dance.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

From: The Dance

I took her words and put then into prose poetry form.

No day or minute offers itself twice.
There is an amazing serenity
when life has been lived to the full.
When the true dream of life has been neglected
or postponed, there is helpless regret.
Life is a huge, urgent invitation.
As Rainer Rilke says:
It is so easy to lose your way -
to end up respectable, trusted and
admirably fulfilling your role.
Yet the whole time you could be suffocating
 inside and no one sees it.
So much depends on how you embrace
the world within you.
There is some limbo in which each
life is caught.
The air is poor in limbo;
grey is the one color there.
Stagnation is the status quo.
All things seem blurred in this half-sleep.
Boredom and indifference conspire to keep
the anxiety buried.
There is endless chatter, but nothing said.
Perhaps it is time to leave limbo.
To awaken: to really come alive…

John O’Donohue

These are his words that I put into
prose poetry form.

Oriah, Mooji, Foster & No Mind's Land...

“The blessing of a new year is the reminder that we can begin again and again –
 not just in January, but whenever we need to, with each dawn, each breath.
  Some days I begin again dozens or hundreds of times.
  We will all inevitably at times become distracted and weary.
  We will wander from the clarity of knowing that is beyond articulation and understanding,
 the moments of sitting in the center of what we are
 and why we are here,
 the awareness that is rooted in Love.

Often it is the deep longing to reach for the Beloved within and around me that helped me begin again.
  But sometimes I lose even this, cannot find the end of the thread of that longing that will take me home
 to the Infinite Love I have tasted in moments of grace.
  And then I find, to my astonishment, that even this lack, this loss of feeling and faith,
 when willingly experienced fully,
 can make me available to the longing that guides me home…”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Copyright 2015

“Let the untrue be exposed and thoroughly burned.
Let whatever is untrue [be burned up] as it is recognized as false.

Wake up to the recognition of your Eternal Self.

Stay in the Heart.
Keep your eyes on
’The Beloved’

Your world may feel like it is being turned upside down.

Do not be disheartened…
It is your good fortune that your ‘world’ is being crushed.

Let your [world] be upside down so that what is true can
 reveal itself and begin unfolding
 in its authentic expression as True Life and Being.

Grace is helping you in every way.
Trust it…”

Mooji

(Above photo:  Zoom blur of a fire in our fireplace J)

“May you speak your deepest truth,
following nothing and nobody
but your own unique path
with some kind of crazy conviction
and an ancient courage
that emanates from beyond
mind…

Be willing to stumble sometimes,
to fail, to fall,
to not know,
to sometimes walk blindly
into the night,
to love without fear,
and to love fear
if and when it arises…”

Jeff Foster

(Above photo taken by my father circa 1952/53)

~*~

Let me to introduce you to Michel Bellegarde over at

No Mind’s Land

Michel has a wonderful blog site full of inspirations and resources
from Krishnamurti to Rumi, and everything in between: sages, mystics, scholars…

  It is where I found Chuck Surface.

Michele creates his own inspirational You Tube videos as well, some of which can be viewed
on his blogsite.  He posts inspiring quotes and poems from various authors and poets,
including myself.  J

Visit No Mind’s Land and let your Spirit Play! 

Postcard from the Heart...

"There is some kiss we want

with our whole lives,

the touch of Spirit...

Seawater begs the pearl

to break its shell.

And the lily,
 how passionately

it needs some wild Darling!

At
 night,
 I open the window

and ask the moon to come

and press its face against mine.

Breathe
 into
 me.

Close the language-door,

and open
 the
 love
window

The moon won't use the door,

only the window."

Rumi

And what if the moon should silently whisper…

”I want to know what your heart aches for,
and if you dare to dream of
meeting your heart’s longing…

Remember…
you belong to the Sacred…
You are an embodiment
 of the sacred Mystery,
surrounded
and
held
by
The Beloved.”

Oriah

We are loved beyond measure… ♥

~

Photo: The Kiss of Spirit

Winter's Jewel - Mandala Art...

“The flame of Consciousness is the Essence of your Being…
Recognize that the flame of Truth is yourself…
Discover directly, for yourself, the jewel
that is alive within you.”

Gangaji
excerpts from:
 The Diamond In Your Pocket

~

“What if the task is simply to unfold,
to become who you are
in your essential nature….

which is not dependent upon
discovering a better method
of prayer,
or technique
of meditation;
not dependent upon
reading the right book
or attending the right seminar,
but upon really seeing
deeply…

…spiraling down into the ache
within the ache,
reaching inward and opening
outward
to feel
the kiss of the Mystery…

Dance with me in the
infinite pause
~
before the next
great inhale of
the breath
that is breathing
us all into being.”

Oriah Mountain Dreamer
excerpts from:
The Dance

~*~

The above mandala looks 3-dimensional
but it's all one flat surface and
was not digitally enhanced.
The design has the affect of
of rising out of the darkness
from using the black paper...

~*~

To see some of my other mandalas
click on the links below

Infinite Cosmic Waves

Meditating Monks

Windows Into Infinity

Medieval Mandala

Remembering...

“The greatest illness is forgetting what we are.
Life is about remembering who we are
through the space of our innermost Being.
Turn toward the essential stillness within…”

Michael Harrington
From Illness to Stillness
(read an excerpt here)

“At the edge of restful darkness
the sacred life force calls to us,
asking us to remember…

We feel the longing to go home
to what we are…

It is the impulse of the life force
within us…

Surrender…

You will see this inner essence,
this innocence,
like a bright thread woven throughout
the center of your life…

Living it consciously is why we are here…

Oriah Mountain Dreamer

“Experience directly the invisible,
ever-present current of Being
that underlies and gives rise
to the world.”

Joan Ruvinsky

“We must let ourselves be led
by the inner thread of Silence
and intuitive Awareness,
beyond where all paths end,

to that place of sacredness
where we go innocently -
not once but continually…”

and discover

“There is only Being ItSelf
through you,
as you,
and as all that exists…

echoing through eternity…”

Adyashanti

“A mystic is content with nothing less
than to touch the Truth [of who we are] in its most
universal purity.”

Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

~*~

May we all “touch the Truth”
and remember…

Blessings of Love and Light
in the eternal Now…

Blue Mooning...

We were out Friday night to watch the “Blue Moon”
to see if she would reveal herself.
I managed to snap a few photos
and added some quotes from Oriah under each one.

Enjoy…

“…show me how you reach

 inward and open outward
to feel the kiss of
 the Mystery…”

 “We will never truly be able to

live and love fully
until we find our way of
living from an awareness
of the deep stillness
at the center of
what we are
- our essential nature...”

“Look at your own life

from within that sense of quiet
stillness that you are.
You will see this inner essence,
this innocence,
like a bright thread
woven throughout the
center of your life.

Living it consciously
is why we are here…”

 “At the edge of restful darkness…

the sacred life force calls to us,
asking us to remember…

We feel the longing to go home
to what we are…

It is the impulse of the
life force within us…

Surrender…”

  “…remember…

you are an embodiment of
the sacred Msytery,
surrounded and held by
The Beloved…”

  “What if your task is simply to unfold,

to become who you already are
in your essential nature -
gentle, compassionate,
and capable of living fully…”

 “…dance with me

in the infinite pause
before the next great inhale
of breath that is breathing
us all into being…”

~~ 

The quotes above are from 3 different books
by Canadian author and poet
Oriah Mountain Dreamer

 The Invitation (1999)
The Dance (2001)
and The Call (2003)

~~

Photos taken with my little Kodak Easy Share
A little grainy but not bad... :)

Prickly Personalities...

My sister has a prickly personality. She tends to be brash, disagreeable, black and white, right or wrong, self-righteous, judgmental, very angry and critical of everyone and everything, creating a very toxic environment. We have had a lot of prickly people in our family tree. In fact the whole family dynamic is rather prickly. We all end up walking on eggshells – except the prickly people. :)

Anyway, she’s rather unpleasant to be around. I tend to unconsciously protect myself from her negative energy when I’m around her. I understand where she’s coming from because I too have had a “prickly personality.” I understand that her prickly personality means that she feels fearful, unloved, wounded, overwhelmed and victimized by life, not realizing that the world doesn’t revolve around her or for her, and that she keeps everyone at arms length with her constant need to be in control, using anger and criticism as a false sense of power. It has been humbling for me to see this reflection. Thankfully my “spiritual path” (and some good therapy :) has led me down a different road - a road of awareness; becoming more self-aware of my unconscious patterns, as well as more *Self* Aware. That is, more aware of my core Beingness – that still, silent place of Conscious Awareness within us all. But the tendencies are still there. I did not escape them, I only became aware of them, and over time I have softened and learned a different way of being in the world; which is not to say that I have perfected this “new” way of being. I can still get prickly at times.

I have been reading a very inspiring book by Oriah Mountain Dreamer called: The Call. While reading, the phrase: “Meet her in her wholeness” came to me. And with that, the sudden realization that I didn’t need to try to protect myself *from* my sister, but to meet her in her Beingness – that place of wholeness within her - from that same place within myself. Instead of shutting down and protecting myself against her negative energy I could consciously “sit back” into (internally become aware of) my own felt sense of Beingness/Wholeness and meet her, eye-to-eye, Being to Being.

I decided to experiment with this one day. As she railed on at what was wrong with the world, with that familiar blank look in her eyes, I just silently sat listening, while at the same time “connecting” with (becoming aware of) my own sense of silent Beigness within - looking right into her eyes. As I did, I noticed a slight softening in her eyes and demeanor, as if there was an inner recognition – Being to Being. It lasted for only a brief moment, and then that blank veil came back over her eyes, and she went on railing at the world. The difference was that I was aware that I could now meet her from a place of wholeness. By *remembering* my own Beingness, by consciously becoming aware of this space in me, I could meet her Wholeness, her Beingness behind the shield she constantly throws up to protect herself – and from behind my own unconscious shield.

This is not to sound magnanimous at all. This is not about ‘me’, but about awareness, and re-discovering a way of being and relating that I have forgotten in the chaos of family dynamics. Clearly I don’t always remember to meet my sister in this “new” way because her unconscious ways ruffle the feathers of my prickly personality. There is still a reactional instinct to push back, to get angry, and to respond in kind – to want to change her, fix her, make her behave. But I also see her suffering, and want to respond to that – if I can find a way in…

When I remember to remember the Wholeness of Being within myself and relate from there; trusting Beingness that *sees* through the prickly personality, something “magical” happens – sometimes; a recognition of Beingness in the "other." Isn’t that what we all want – a mirror of our Beingness; to be met in our Wholeness – Being to Being. I don’t think this is pie-in-the-sky idealism. Experiencing and living from our Essential Nature is not just a fantasy. It’s the Way of Being. Or is that a little too prickly... :)

~~


“Embracing your wholeness is the greatest gift you can give to others.”

Christine Wushke
Journey to Light

~~

“All things are made of the same sacred presence, stillness…”
”All things emanate from and return to and are never
separated from a vast and sacred wholeness.”

“This spaciousness that we are is not
indifferent to the suffering that we feel
when we have forgotten what we are.
It reaches out to us, calls to us.”

‘It is the Great Mystery.
It is what we are made of,
and what everything and everyone
is made of.
It is what we participate in
with every breath.”

“We will never be happy
or truly able to live and
love fully
until we find our way of living
from an awareness of the deep stillness
at the center of what we are
- our essential nature -
which is wakefulness, awareness,
love, peace, truth and beauty.”

“Look at your own life from within
that sense of quiet stillness
that you are.
You will see this inner essence,
this innocence, like a bright thread
woven throughout the center of your life.
Living it consciously is why you are here…”


Quotes from: The Call
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer