Caravan of No Despair

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.”

In Caravan of No Despair, Mirabai shares a tender, uplifting, and intimate memoir of her extraordinary life journey. From her earliest experiences of a nomadic lifestyle traveling between spiritual communities, Mirabai recalls each juncture at which she was shattered and remade—her discovery of a deep passion for the world’s great wisdom traditions, her tangled relationship with a charlatan-guru, her unexpected connection with the great Christian mystics, and the heartbreaking loss of her teenage daughter. Through every hardship and triumph, the one quality that never deserted her was 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, “but they are opportunities. They are invitations to sit in the fire and allow it to transfigure us.” With Caravan of No Despair, Mirabai now returns what she had been given by her teachers, her loved ones, and the long-ago mystics—a story that can be a lifeline through the most unthinkable storms, woven by one who has gone before, endured, and emerged remade by love.