The Call

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

I am neither a priest nor a theologian, neither a devotee of nor a spokesperson for any particular spiritual tradition or path. I am an ordinary woman with an extraordinary hunger: to live with an awareness of the Sacred Mystery, the Beloved �?God �?at the centre of my life and to learn from this presence who I am and why I am here.

Speaking to me through what I long for, the call of that which is both within and larger than myself has guided me to an understanding of how I can live that longing �?not by trying to change myself, but by unfolding, by becoming who I already am at the deepest level of my being. But with this comprehension of what I must do, the call continues to come to me as an image of myself with tired eyes and severed hands questioning why I seek to embody this understanding when it is clear how infrequently my essential nature guides my actions, how often fear still shapes and sometimes determines what I do. It tells me that something is off, missing. But I have not given up. I am willing to do whatever it takes to know and live the meaning in my life. I am convinced that I have to and am able to learn to do it differently.