Dr. Barbara Holmes describes what it means to be a “public mystic,” someone whose experience of the divine leads them to take action on behalf of others:
There is within the human spirit a source of renewal, courage, and ingenuity that equips us to fulfill our purpose here on earth. Howard Thurman refers to this powerful interiority as “the sound of the genuine within.” This deeply contemplative wellspring strengthens both individuals and entire communities as they seek freedom….
When I was growing up, most of the mystics that I was introduced to were of European lineage. Although their messages of faith, personal salvation, and the love of God continue to bless me to this day, I needed more. I needed leadership that lifted and protected the community; I wanted to see women and men who looked like me leading freedom’s charge….
In Joy Unspeakable, I refer to public mystics as leaders who embody the ineffable while attending to the ordinary, those who host the transcendent, the mystical, and the mundane while engaged in pragmatic justice-seeking acts. [1]
Spiritual director Therese Taylor-Stinson upholds Harriet Tubman as a model of a “public mystic”:
Like Mama Harriet, we must learn to embrace the ways of our ancestors, connect with the Supreme, and find the internal freedom to do our part to lead our people, our communities—the inhabitants of this planet—to freedom and a new way of being….
We can all be mystics. We should all know our mystical gifts are meant for our use in community. Our relationship with the Supreme is evidenced through our public interests in loving our neighbors. Sister Harriet is still speaking to us, along with other ancestors. Just as Harriet, in her treks to freedom, drew on many sources of the mystical to answer the sound of the genuine in herself, encouraging internal freedom in her charges as she led them to be physically free from brutal enslavement, we too must be in tune with the resources available to us today and the necessity for emotional freedom to even enjoy the rights of physical freedom. The mystical calls us to Ubuntu (“I am because we are”). That gives us the charge to become public mystics so that we may all endure…. Come with me across the bridge to freedom, and don’t forget to see and experience the beautiful falls of love, peace, beauty, and community along the way! [2]
References:
[1] Barbara A. Holmes, foreword to Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic and Freedom Fighter (Broadleaf Books, 2023), vii, viii–ix.
[2] Therese Taylor-Stinson, Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic and Freedom Fighter (Broadleaf Books, 2023), 152, 153–154.
Image credit and inspiration: Alexander Klarmann, Untitled (detail), 2017, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The leaf can be a doorway into being with what is, experiencing the ineffable and intangible nature of the Great Mystery.
Story from Our Community:
I was moved by Mirabai Starr’s reflection, “Our Families Are Teachers,” which explored how to embrace the reality of our lives and relationships with all their challenges. In fact, I feel like it was written just for me. Currently, I am caring for a husband with dementia which involves, in Mirabai’s words, “shattered dreams” and “disappointments and dramas,” especially involving family members who aren’t always supportive in this difficult journey. I intend to try to embrace Mirabai’s sage counsel to “stop arguing with reality and instead soften into what is.” I find that to be such an affirming notion in the midst of the daily frustrations and sadness.
—Heather N.
