Polarity
The last few nights, I have dreamt of myself reading a poem that I once held so dear to me. Over two nights, the same recurring dream where I read the poem and re-write in the same style how I feel in the world at the moment. I have seen anger, grief, worry and despair. I have been listening and observing how things play out. And I have dreamt and wondered what it would be like if we didn’t experience shame or fear - how we would approach our individual and collective chaos.
The poem I am referring to is The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Please read it, it’s so relevant.
It inspired the following…
It doesn’t interest me
What you do for a living.
I want to know if you can listen
To truly listen..
To yourself, and to those around you.
It doesn’t interest me what your stance is
I want to know if you can hold your own values
While respecting others.
If you can risk your own ego
To hold space for another’s own processing.
It doesn’t matter to me
If you are a yoga teacher, a shaman,
A witch or a priestess
I want to know if you can tap into the well of kindness,
Of compassion and of LOVE
To hold space when you feel fear in the room.
I want to know if you can step into the shoes of another
To contemplate, to understand and to feel their experience
While honouring your own.
I want to know if you can breathe in the light and shadow
Through the front gate of your heart
And let go
Allowing al the shades of light to sigh out
Softly retiring through the back of your heart.
A spacious return to presence.
And yes, I want to know
If you can sit with discomfort
Both yours and others
Without trying to prove a point
To sit in human being-ness.
I want to know if you can hold your own sense of sovereignty
Whilst maintaining another’s.
That you can be a feminist in white culture
Believing that the world is at our feet
And still fight for the rights of ALL women, in all parts of the world.
I want to know if behind all the masks
You can see through veils
That we all desire the same thing.
Peace, freedom and connection.
To dance to sing!
I want to know if you can be alone
And gather the company of your self.
To sit with your Spirit,
And sigh, welcoming yourself home.
Again and again.
I want to know if you can hold joy in one hand
Deep grief in the other
And know that this is Life.
And with both hands open
You can look up to the sky
Breathe deeply and follow your True North.
I want to know if you see past the old world
And dream of a new world
One that is richer, and fairer for all.
That you can dream with others
And dream separateness to wholeness alive.