By Mirabai Starr
A 10-Week Conversation: Beginning the week of September 16th and ending the week of November 18th.
Join us as we continue our Year of the Mystics by exploring how our everyday life can be an encounter with the sacred. Mirabia Starr’s newest book helps readers find the extraordinary in the everyday.
Together, in sacred community, we will explore this book and ways to walk as a mystic where “the mundane shows up as miraculous, the boring becomes fascinating, and your own shortcomings turn out to be your greatest gifts.”
Ordinary Mysticism’s release date is the week of our first meeting week. But don’t worry, we won’t have any required reading for our first meeting.
You can preorder to be sure you receive the book in time or purchase it on Kindle and receive it the day it comes out.
About the Book
“This gorgeous, transformative, welcoming book is for anyone who longs to feel more present, more alive, more joyful and aware of the holiness of daily life.”
Anne Lamott, author of Dusk, Night, Dawn and Help, Thanks, Wow
Welcome to the temple of your regular life.
So begins beloved spiritual guide Mirabai Starr’s stunning exploration of finding the extraordinary in the everyday. In Ordinary Mysticism, she helps readers discover their own inner mystic and let go of the limiting belief that spiritual life exists only in traditional places of worship. Mysticism, she explains, is a direct experience of the sacred—no church or clergy required. Our everyday life can be an encounter with the sacred if we pay attention. Starr explores the magic of mundane life, from weeding in our humble gardens to a slow evening walk with a friend to a full kitchen table surrounded by family. Embracing mysticism in our everyday is a way of being more alive in the world, an awakening to the interconnectedness between all things.
You can visit an ashram in the Himalayas or kneel in a church pew to connect to the spirit or examine life’s big questions—but these aren’t the only opportunities to discover the sacred. Life, Starr reminds us, is holy ground. Lyrical and tender, filled with profound wisdom and mind-opening insights, Ordinary Mysticism is about finding wonder in regular life, grounded in lessons from spiritual teachers across the centuries—from Julian of Norwich to Ram Dass. Starr combines their ancient wisdom with the story of her own personal and spiritual journey—from surviving the heartbreak of her fourteen-year-old daughter’s death to growing up amid the 1960s counterculture that introduced her to mysticism to her self-made spiritual practice of today. Alongside storytelling and age-old teachings, Starr offers practices and writing prompts for help our souls seek holy ground.
When you decide to walk the path of the mystic, the mundane shows up as miraculous, the boring becomes fascinating, and your own shortcomings turn out to be your greatest gifts. May we all find meaning and wonder in our most ordinary moments.
About the Author
Mirabai Starr, MA, is an author, translator of the mystics, and a leading voice in the interspiritual movement, using fresh, lyrical language to help make timeless wisdom accessible to a contemporary circle of seekers. Mirabai is a frequent contributor to The Center of Action and Contemplation and the Sounds True series. She has written numerous books including Wild Mercy and is the recipient of numerous awards for her books.
She has received critical acclaim for her revolutionary new translations of Dark Night of the Soul, by 16th-century Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross; The Interior Castle and The Book of My Life, by St. Teresa of Avila; and The Showings of Julian of Norwich.
Starr taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Mirabai is on the 2020 Watkins List of the “100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People of the World.”
Meetings Times (Central Time):
Tuesdays at 1:00pm
Wednesdays at 1:30pm or 7:00pm
Thursdays at 11:00am
Saturdays at 9:30am
Sundays at 12:00pm
What Happens Next
All groups are hosted on The Contemplative Cathedral, an online platform that allows for sharing, discussion, access to Zoom links, and multi-model learning and engagement. You will receive an invitation to join the group in The Cathedral at least a week before we begin.
About Contemplative Conversation Circles
In our groups, we create a safe sacred container for conversation and practice as we journey together through books on contemplation, Christianity, and spiritual growth. Through a set of shared ground rules and curiosity, we learn from each other, ourselves, and the text. Many participants stick with their groups for future studies and become ongoing groups.
Learn more about us on our website: www.contemplatelincoln.org
Check out The Cathedral: community.contemplatelincoln.org