The following excerpt is from Mirabai Starr’s musings with her express permission to share.
She reminds us that we are all mystics and in the second piece I offer below, points to the responsibility that brings.
Her work and insights are always beautiful and profound and humble. I highly recommend subscribing to her blog.
https://www.mirabaistarr.com/subscribe
From Mirabai:
Guess what? You’re a mystic. The world has conditioned us to put certain beings on a pedestal and perceive them as embodying a more exalted life than the sometimes bleak version we may be living. But, the definition of a mystic is someone who has a direct encounter with the sacred. That’s you. In your moments of watching the sky and watching TV, eating a delicious meal or changing a diaper, making tea and making love, the sacred and the ordinary are braided together.
The way of the everyday mystic is to weave our humanness into the tapestry of our relationship with the divine. We welcome everything and expand our ability to hold what is. We bow at the feet of reality. Not by turning away from what hurts but by tenderly turning toward it. Heartbreak is part of the path of holiness.
Without minimizing the grief, challenges, and fear that these difficult times are inviting into our lives, we can view the inevitable meltdowns unfolding in our personal and collective reality as opportunities to let go of outdated belief systems, reassess our spiritual lives and re-emerge, again and again.
We all carry within us an everyday mystic, a lover of the Beloved, and that part of ourselves is always here, waiting to be set free.
In this most recent Sabbath note, Mirabai speaks eloquently “…about the importance of not going straight to “we are all one” and bypassing the very real issues of marginalization and oppression that many of our siblings on planet earth experience every day. I believe we must continue to actively dismantle the structures and systems rooted in white supremacy while infusing anti racism-work with love. May we dare step up with our hearts open, again and again.”