Mirabai Starr on mysticism for everyone

The Spiritual Life with Fr. James Martin, S.J.

America Media

Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Host James Martin, S.J., explores the mystical dimensions of the spiritual life with Mirabai Starr, an award-winning author, contemporary translator of sacred literature, and world-renowned teacher of contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialogue. They dive deep into: - Daily practices that foster mystical experiences, including insights drawn from Mirabai’s latest book “Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life As Sacred Ground.” - The role that death, loss and grief have played in shaping Mirabai’s spirituality and bereavement ministry - The biographies of Catholic mystics, such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila Link to Fr. Jim’s spiritual advice article on this episode: https://www.americamagazine.org/podcasts/2025/09/23/what-is-mystical-experience Do you have a spiritual question for Fr. Jim? You can write to us at: thespirituallife@americamedia.org Become a subscriber today at https://www.americamagazine.org/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Body, mind, and spirit.
0:03.0	We believe if one needs help, so do the others.
0:06.4	As part of Catholic Health Care's holistic approach to treating the whole person,
0:10.8	here, people are not viewed as symptoms or insurance claims.
0:14.8	And when we treat the body, mind, and spirit, we believe the whole person will thrive.
0:20.5	Catholic Health Care, learn more at we care
0:23.3	you flourish.org sponsored by the Catholic Health Association welcome to the spiritual life
0:34.9	I'm Father Jim Martin on this this podcast, we reflect on how people
0:39.5	experience God in their prayer and in their daily lives. And I'm joined by my prayerful producer,
0:47.2	Maggie Van Dorn. Oh, thank you, Jim. It's good to be here. Yeah. And we have a really
0:53.8	interesting guest this time, Mirabai's star.
0:57.9	Can you tell us a little bit about her, Maggie?
1:00.4	Yes, absolutely. So Mirabai is truly prayerful and mystical. She's an award-winning author, poet, and an internationally acclaimed speaker. She's also a spiritual teacher. As a teenager,
1:14.2	Mirabai lived at the Lama Foundation, which is an intentional spiritual community that has honored
1:19.5	all the world's faith traditions since 1967. She was an adjunct professor of philosophy and
1:25.7	world religions at the University of New Mexico
1:28.4	Tao's for 20 years. Mirabai's youngest daughter, Jenny, was killed in a car crash in 2001 at the age of
1:36.1	only 14. And on that same day, Mirabai's first book, a translation of the mystical masterpiece,
1:42.4	Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross was released.
1:45.9	So you'll find in this conversation that Mirabai says that this experience and the connection
1:51.0	between profound loss and longing for the divine grounds her own spiritual life.
1:57.5	Mirabai has authored over a dozen books, including Wild Mercy, Caravan of No Despair, and most recently, Ordinary Mysticism.
	...

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