260. Mirabai Starr

Author of crit­i­cally acclaimed new trans­la­tions of the mys­tics, and reflec­tions on the uni­fy­ing teach­ings at the heart of all spir­i­tual paths. Mirabai Starr uses fresh, lyri­cal lan­guage to help make time­less wis­dom acces­si­ble to a con­tem­po­rary cir­cle of seekers. Daugh­ter of the counter-culture, Mirabai was born in New York in 1961 to sec­u­lar Jew­ish par­ents who rejected the patri­archy of insti­tu­tion­al­ized reli­gion. Intel­lec­tual artists and social jus­tice activists, they were active in the anti-war protest move­ment of the Viet­nam era. As a teenager, Mirabai lived at the Lama Foun­da­tion, an inten­tional spir­i­tual com­mu­nity that has hon­ored all the world’s faith tra­di­tions since its incep­tion in 1967. This ecu­meni­cal expe­ri­ence. Mirabai has been an adjunct pro­fes­sor of Phi­los­o­phy and World Reli­gions at the Uni­ver­sity of New Mexico-Taos since 1993. Her empha­sis is on mak­ing con­nec­tions between the peren­nial teach­ings found at the heart of all the world’s spir­i­tual paths, in an effort to pro­mote peace and justice. Mirabai speaks and teaches nation­ally and inter­na­tion­ally on the teach­ings of the mys­tics and con­tem­pla­tive prac­tice, and is a cer­ti­fied bereave­ment coun­selor. She is avail­able for inter­views, speak­ing engage­ments, work­shops, and con­tem­pla­tive retreats. She lives in the moun­tains of North­ern New Mex­ico with her hus­band, Jeff Lit­tle (Ganga Das). Between them, Mirabai and Jeff have four grown daugh­ters and six grand­chil­dren. Mirabai’s youngest daugh­ter, Jenny, was killed in a car acci­dent in 2001 at the age of four­teen. On that same day, Mirabai’s first book, a trans­la­tion of Dark Night of the Soul, was released. She con­sid­ers this expe­ri­ence, and the con­nec­tion between pro­found loss and long­ing for God, the ground of her own spir­i­tual life. Books: Saint Francis of Assisi - Brother of Creation Saint Teresa of Avila - Passionate Mystic Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life Saint John of the Cross - Devotions, Prayers, & Living Wisdom Hildegard of Bingen - Devotions, Prayers, & Living Wisdom Saint Michael the Archangel - Devotions, Prayers, and Living Wisdom Our Lady of Guadalupe - Devotions, Prayers, & Living Wisdom God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam The Showings of Julian of Norwich: A New Translation Website: mirabaistarr.com Interview recorded 10/25/014 at the Science and Nonduality Conference. Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group. Transcript of this interview Second BatGap interview with Mirabai. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction at Science and Nonduality Conference 00:03:02 - The Influence of Eastern Traditions on my Upbringing 00:05:23 - A Potpourri of Sufi and Indigenous Practices 00:07:15 - Education and Spirituality 00:09:12 - The Development of a Meditation Practice 00:12:23 - My Multifaith Journey 00:15:14 - Translating the Christian Mystics 00:17:41 - Translating Teresa of Avila and the Jewish Mourning Cycle 00:19:39 - The Deep and Quiet John of the Cross 00:20:56 - The relationship with the inquisitors 00:22:41 - Analogies and Cross-training 00:23:51 - The Birthright of Interspirituality 00:25:17 - Having a Spiritual Experience 00:27:06 - Embracing Different Lamps 00:29:13 - Understanding Fundamentalism 00:31:01 - Gradations of Spiritual Maturity 00:33:02 - Commonalities between traditions and the interspiritual response 00:34:34 - The Interfaith Movement and the Interspiritual Movement 00:36:31 - The Interconnected Web of Being 00:39:04 - Embracing a Multidimensional Spiritual Path 00:40:41 - The Illusion of Separation and the Non-dual State 00:42:31 - Embracing Oneness and Wholeness 00:44:16 - The Sophomoric Mind 00:46:01 - Mining the Jewels: Extracting the Essence from Religions 00:47:54 - Extracting the Good Bits from Established Religions 00:49:59 - The Prevalence of Spirituality and Heart Experience 00:51:51 - The Importance of Experience over Belief 00:53:51 - The Incomprehensible Intelligence of Cells 00:56:19 - The Beauty of Loss and Trauma 00:59:27 - Wrapping up with Gems of Wisdom 01:01:06 - Concluding Remarks and Preview of Next Interview 01:02:33 - Conclusion and Closing Remarks