Caravan of No Despair: A Memoir of Loss and Transformation - Mirabai Starr

On the day her first book came out--a new translation of Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross--Mirabai Starr's daughter, Jenny, was killed in a car accident. My spiritual life began the day my daughter died, writes Mirabai. Even with decades of spiritual practice and a deep immersion in the greatest mystical texts, she found herself utterly unprepared for my most powerful catalyst for transformation, my fiercest and most compassionate teacher. With Caravan of No Despair , Mirabai shares an irreverent, uplifting, and intimate memoir of her extraordinary life journey. Through the many twists and turns of her life--including a tangled relationship with a charlatan-guru, her unexpected connection with the great Christian mystics, and the loss of her daughter--Mirabai finds the courage to remain open and defenseless before the mystery of the divine. Tragedy and trauma are not guarantees for a transformational spiritual experience, writes Mirabai Starr, but they are opportunities. They are invitations to sit in the fire and allow it to transfigure us.