The Invitation (Hardcover)

~ Oriah (Author), (Author) "Once in a while, we are given moments of real grace..." (more)
Key Phrases: empty moments, Deep Sustenance, Grandmother Earth, Finding Our Way Home (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One night, after an unsatisfying evening at a party, author Oriah Mountain Dreamer wrote the start of The Invitation. By the light of her streetlight, she began, "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.... 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...."

Her profound invitation (longer than is written here) became the framework for this wise and inspiring book. Chapter by chapter, the author uses passages from her "Invitation" to welcome readers into a life that is more soul fulfilling and passionate, and has far greater truth and integrity. In a sense, she invites readers to get a life instead of buying into a lifestyle. Each chapter ends with a guided meditation specific to the theme of the chapter, such as "The Joy" and "The Failure."

Despite her suspiciously New Age-sounding name, Oriah Mountain Dreamer is a highly grounded, practical, and honest writer. This fresh and beautifully packaged book is destined for great acclaim in the realm of spiritual inspiration. --Gail Hudson

Review

"The Invitation is a remarkable book. It explores and reveals the true landscapes of eternal possibility and promise. This book is written from within real experience; it is always faithful to the thresholds where beauty and pain, hope and darkness, memory and possibility, divine and human are sistered. This book is at once a fierce and tender presence. Its wisdom could become a lifelong companion, engaging and awakening the original and unique rhythm of your mind and soul." -- John O'Donahue, author of Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes

"Her words pierced my shell and pricked at my soul. An invitation to the ultimate dance." -- Wayne W. Dyer, author of Wisdom of the Ages

"Wise. So very wise is this deep and thoughtful book. It is a wisdom born of one who knows shadows and loss and gathering foundness, joy and genuine ecstasy. The truth-telling courage of Oriah Mountain Dreamer gives us a bracing antidote to the easy answers of the pop gurus. Here is a feast of life with real food to nourish the hungry seeker." -- Jean Houston, author of A Passion for the Possible

"The Invitation is a treasure. If you want to live more deeply, honestly, and passionately, you must read this book." -- Richard Carlson, author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

"The Invitation is stunning in its simplicity and power, soul food for the mind and heart, a prose poem for a new world." -- Michael Toms, co-founder of New Dimensions Radio and co-author of True Work

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 136 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1 edition (April 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062515845
• ISBN-13: 978-0062515841
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,181 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

131 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A devastatingly simple and profoundly wise book of hope., May 1, 1999

By A Customer

This little treasure of a book takes ordinary life and elevates it to mystical status.It is one of the most moving books I have ever read and when I finished the last page I actually felt better about myself than I have in a long time. Do not misunderstand, this isn't some flaky new-age message. This book is firmly rooted in real-life but it manages to make the mundane trials of our lives seem more like a dance with the divine that connects all humans. I would hate to say anything that might make potential readers shy away from this book, and I really am not able to convey its beauty or the feeling of peace I felt while visiting the noble world illuminated by Ms. Mountain Dreamers words but please, as a favor to yourself and someone you love, find this book and read it. Your soul will thank you.

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I accept, July 22, 1999

By A Customer

The Invitation is incredibly moving. It invites you to live life more fully, and feel all there is to feel-both the good and bad. I don't know what I was expecting to find when I picked up this book, but I got more than I could have hoped for. One of the most compelling aspects of this book is that Oriah Mountain Dreamer is not afraid to practice what she preaches. Actually she doesn't preach at all, which is extremely refreshing. Here is a woman who has gone through it all, and is not afraid to be REAL. She is not some New Age guru living in a bubble, this is a real woman who can move you to tears with simple profound wisdom, and still admit to you she gets irked with her teenage sons for leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor. What a wonderful book!

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spiritual Journey to the Edges of Emotion to Find Your Core!, December 24, 2000

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Ms. Oriah Mountain Dreamer has created a pathway beyond the comforable and the mundane into that which challenges and repels you. By addressing the edges of your personality and sensitivities, you can build on and extend your awareness and your reality in honest ways that better fit your inner self. The book is propelled from the author's emotionally intense vision of her life as expressed in this question: "Did I love well?"

Although her personal examples are simply there to help your own journey, their poignancy touched me deeply. If you are like me, you will admire the honesty and openness of her sharing. Ms. Dreamer has had two failed marriage and many failed relationships. She has had friends who experienced horrible personal setbacks. You will be seared by the pain, the truth, and the beauty in these experiences. And you will be the better for the vicarious experience.

Above all, this book is a call to have courage, courage to go beyond the comfortable into the important. Because of the examples chosen and her personal perspective, this book will probably speak more eloquently to many women than to many men.

The book is broken down into the statement of her invitation to follow her spiritual path by dealing with longing, fear, sorrow, joy, betrayal, beauty, failure, commitment, and fire to develop the deep sustenance to allows you to go to your true inner home. Each section contains personal experiences of her point, and ends with valuable meditation exercises to help you find your own "truth" in these areas.

Although the book sounds like another New Age tract, it is actually anti-New Age in many ways . . . especially in favoring emotional and physical reality over spiritual vagueness.

Here is a little of what she has to say on these subjects:

Accepting the Invitation: " . . . [Y]ou will experience, not just read about, the ache, the sorrow, the joy, the courage, the peace . . . ."

The Longing: "This is what I ask for: intimacy with myself, others, and the world . . . ."

The Fear: "We are afraid we will not be enough." " . . . [D]esire . . . brings the ecstasy of falling more deeply in love with my own life every day . . . ."

The Sorrow: "If we are strong enough to be weak enough, we are given a wound that never heals." "[That wound] is the gift that keeps the heart open."

The Joy: "The enemy of joy is the litany of 'not good enough' . . . ."

The Betrayal: "Sometimes, to choose life, we must break agreements; sometimes we must keep them although they are hard to keep."

The Beauty: " . . . [G]ratitude expands my ability to receive beauty." "It is what pulls us towards life."

The Failure: " . . . [O]ften an attempt to avoid the paralysis of shame."

The Commitment: " . . . [F]eed the children when [they] thought they could not."

The Fire: "[D]ifficult to keep our hearts open, to feel the fear and pain."

Finding Our Way Home: "Are you willing to meet yourself and not turn away from what you are?"

As you can see, Ms. Dreamer sets a high standard, but one that you will probably be proud to match.

I particularly recommend the meditations in the book. My own meditation routine repeats the same process. I found it rewarding to use different methods. Many new thoughts occurred to me as a result. It was a deeply moving experience in each case.

After you have finished your spiritual journey with this book as a guide, I suggest that you write out your own examples to match these topics from your own experience. This will make the material more accessible, especially if loving well is not your core reason for being.

Be yourself, in more ways and more fully!