Peace Rider Writes Again After a Long Absence

Dear Friends,

Peace Rider lives to blog another day!   The eloquent words that follow came to me recently from a dear friend in Hawaii - minus the art work.  I found that one day this spring in the University of Alaska Fairbanks library.  It seemed a worthy embellishment. 

More on yurt building and a few photos in another post.  That kept me "off the streets and out of the bars" this winter.  

Doing something meaningful about climate change awaits.

The Invitation

(To Awaken)

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 of 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 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 a human.

If doesn’t interest 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 faithful 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 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 know or how you came 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.

“The invitation” is a declaration of intent, a map into the longing of the soul.. Movement forward, is not the same thing as actually making the journey.

I want to live with deep intimacy every day of my life.

  
When I am able to live with real intimacy… I experience a presence... This presence, this Great Mystery known by so many different names –God, Spirit, Allah, the Great mother ( Madre Tierra, Pachamama) lifts me, fills me with a vast silence and a sharp taste of the interconnectedness of all life.  I have faith in this Mystery and the many ways in which it sustains us.

My invitation, my challenge to you here, is to journey into a deeper intimacy with the world and your life without any promise of safety or guarantee of reward beyond the intrinsic value of full participation.

 Life lived intimately may not be easier.  But it is fuller, richer, and more open to everything...

When I imagine myself as an old woman at the end of my life... there is only one question that concerns me:  Did I love well? 

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer Indian Elder

Please know that all roles are important no matter how seemingly insignificant,  none are more or less so than another.  All threads woven into the tapestry for creating a  New Earth make a valuable contribution.  Each adds in some immeasurable way to the beauty of the whole through interconnectedness.   A single "thread"standing alone is easily broken but many woven together motivated by LOVE create and unbreakable unity.  It is why we need one another in the work that lies ahead. 

For those not able to work directly on the "front lines" your focused intention of love and compassion is enough.  

In the end the responsibility and initiative for your self-development and growth rests with YOU.

Peace Rider
Art work from William D. Barry papers University of Alaska, Fairbanks Archives