260. Mirabai Starr

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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:

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

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