Our Daily Meditations this week honor the wisdom, teachings, and legacy of Dr. Barbara Holmes (1943–2024), a beloved CAC teacher. After her university career, “Dr. B,” as she was known to many CAC students and colleagues, enjoyed offering her perspective as an “everyday mystic.”
Every person has had some mystical experience. Maybe the seas have not parted, and maybe they haven’t walked on water, but there have nevertheless been amazing miracles in our lives. We just haven’t shared them in community, so we don’t feel comfortable sharing them as individuals. I will tell you the basis of my personal mysticism so that you will consider yours….
I’m an ordinary, everyday mystic. I’m not claiming special powers, just a life steeped in mystery. My family was comfortable with mysticism, spiritual discernment, and the use of spiritual gifts such as healing and words of knowledge. My Aunt Lee, a Gullah shaman Catholic, was my biggest influence. She saw dead people and mediated mystery for our family. She could tell you who was coming and going and how they were when they got to the other side!… She relayed messages from ancestors on the other side back to us….
It seems that at least in her understanding, you could choose your age in the life after life. So when you saw people in dreams, you would see them embodied as the age that best reflected their spiritual joy. My dad chose his 50s, and when I see him in dreams, that’s what he looks like. My mom chose her late 30s. I’m not familiar with that look for my mom, so I always hesitate, because at this point on the spiritual side, she’s younger than I am. There were all kinds of rules about dreams and encounters. My aunt’s messages always included what they called “verification.” She would seal the deal with the information that no one would know except the loved ones who had gone on. She’d tell you where a piece of lost jewelry could be found, or the content of a few last words spoken in private….
The weird part is that all of this seemed normal to me. Despite the fact that schooling and further education tried to invalidate my experience, I knew that everyday mysticism was real. I could not be persuaded or taught otherwise. I’m describing mysticism as a natural part of everyday life and all of the things that I’m describing happened in ordinary time. There was no weird music, sweeping cloaks, or spooky incantations … just a deep understanding of the sacred and a willingness to allow the gifts to lead. [1]
CAC Dean of Faculty Brian McLaren encourages us to honor Dr. B’s life with our own lives:
In honoring Dr. B, may we continue the struggle she so passionately embraced—the struggle for justice, the healing of the human spirit, and the call to radical creativity. May her “intelligence on fire” continue to burn within us as we move forward in love, action, and contemplation. [2]
Honoring Dr. Barbara Holmes
In honoring Dr. B, may we continue the struggle she so passionately embraced—the struggle for justice, the healing of the human spirit, and the call to radical creativity. Watch her speak about how death does not have the last word.
References:
[1] Adapted from Barbara A. Holmes, Everyday Mysticism: an Online Gathering with Dr. Barbara Holmes, Center for Action and Contemplation, October 18, 2023, online teaching. Recording unavailable.
[2] Brian McLaren, “Honoring Dr. Barbara Holmes: A Life of Contemplation and Justice,” News from New Mexico, October 2024.
Image credit and inspiration: Unknown, Dr. Barbara Holmes Headshot (detail), photo, United States. Click here to enlarge image.
Story from Our Community:
From the first day I heard Dr. B speak, I felt a deep sense of kinship, love, awe and gratitude. What a blessing and joy unspeakable to have had such a beautiful wise teacher to learn from and share sacred space. In my heart, I know her as beloved Auntie B! Her celebration of her Gullah and West African ancestry gives me great pride and even greater joy in our shared lineage. I hold her beloved family in sacred love as they grieve her great transition. May they find comfort in memories of her great life and great love and that she now walks with our beloved ancestors. I’m sure she is finding ways to continue teaching and loving us all through the veil of eternity. Beloved Dr. B, Ashe. Rest in power.
—CAC Community Member
