Do I Dare?

Here's what went out on the UNC SKS wire this week:

The Self Knowledge Symposium
Monday, February 19 at 7:30 pm
Murphey 314

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"When we meet, I don't want to ask you what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for when that door of longing swings open and if you have the courage to feel your own desire. Tell me something you have not told yourself for a very long time. Let it come up from your belly, so we can be surprised together. We will sit here, together, for as long as it takes, waiting for it to come. It's hard to wait alone."

-- from "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Last week we talked about what it means to "live up to" your beliefs. How can you tell that you're talking spiritual life seriously? Georg told the story of when he was most serious about it: when he left the woman he loved to pursue a spiritual search . . . and then, a year later, came back and proposed to her. The excerpts from his letters showed that "being serious" is something that happens when you make commitments, when you act on your beliefs and make decisions with lifelong consequences. Whether it's a spiritual quest, or a personal relationship, the measure is the same: we find out who we are by what we do.

It would be nice if we could examine our lives, and know that we are committed to the most important things. And yet, that's not where we seem to find ourselves, most of the time. If we have the courage to recognize our deepest desires and dreams, we often find that those dreams are somewhere far away, seemingly out of reach, and we're still sitting here, still dreaming the dream but not moving toward it. What do you do then?

We'll find out this week. We are joined by Laura Hirst, a UNC SKS alumna who graduated in 2004 and is currently working with AmeriCorps at El Centro Hispano in Durham. Laura has tapped into her own intensity; better yet, she knows how to tap into yours.