The Mystics Were Not Ivory-Tower Meditators Poem by Genova Maaa my mother

It is a popular myth
that the contemplative life
requires not only detachment
from the world but a disassociation
from the world and materiality.

The pioneers of the mystical way
were not idle dreamers or ivory-tower
meditators, they were public men,
preachers, administrators and writers
who left their imprints on the world.
(Consider Augustine, Gregory, Bernard and Catherine of Genoa, who utilized their spiritual resources in attacking political, social and ecclesiastical problems of their respective periods) .