It's been a while since I have written to the LO list but I was read the
following over the phone on a day when I was having a hard time. I
thought I would share it with this list too. I think it is wonderful. I
put it on another list -- on complexity -- in a thread about love. I
would also like to dedicate it to two women who we have lost in the last
week -- speaking of soulfulness -- Princess Diana and Mother Theresa. And
aren't we really talking about love and acceptance of others when we talk
about learning organizations? It seems like the technology and systems
can all be worked out -- we just always screw up the relationships...
The Invitation, May 1994 -- by Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Indian Elder
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 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're telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disapoint 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 be faithful and therefore be trustworthy. I want to
know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if
you can source your life from God's presence. 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 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.
It doesn't interest me who you are, 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.
Sherri
Sherri@maloufinc.com
LMA, Inc, The Growth Company
Tel: 603-672-0355
Fax: 603-673-7120
--sherri@maloufinc.com (Sherri Malouf)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>