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Jay Michaelson is an award-winning journalist, meditation teacher, podcast host, and author of ten books.

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Books
- The Secret that is not a Secret:Ten Heretical Tales
  
  The Heresy of Jacob Frank:From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth
  
  Enlightenment by Trial and ErrorTen years on the Slippery Slopes of Jewish Spirtuality, Postmodern Buddhism, and Other Mystical Heresies
  
  The Gate of TearsSadness and the Spiritual Path
  
  Evolving DharmaMeditation, Buddhism, and the Next Generation of Enlightenment
  
  Redefining Religious LibertyThe Covert Campaign Against Civil Rights
  
  God vs Gay?The Religious Case for Equality
  
  Everything is GodThe Radical Path of Nondual Judaism
  
  Another Word for SkyPoems
  
  God in your BodyKabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice
  
  isHeretical Jewish Blessings and Poems
  
  AnthologiesAnthologies featuring Jay Michaelson
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- Law/Politics/Religion
- Spirituality/Meditation
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Recent Articles

The Postliberal Hatred of America

May 28th, 2025 in Both/And
We must face reality — the Gaza War is now a war of annihilation

May 28th, 2025 in Forward
Taking Psychedelic Spiritualities (More) Seriously

May 23rd, 2025 in Both/And
Comfortable with Discomfort

May 15th, 2025 in Both/And
I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

May 9th, 2025 in Forward
more...

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Professor @emory @harvard
Journalist @cnn @rollingstone @jdforward
Psychedelics Scholar Rabbi Writer Dad
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I don't often make quote memes from things my frie

I don't often make quote memes from things my friends & colleagues say, but this bit from @anthonylfisher is just so correct, whether it's about Reactionary Centrists or RFK Conspiritualists or so many others who have lost the basic thread of truth and how to establish it.

As someone who writes about the intersection of re

As someone who writes about the intersection of religion and politics, I've naturally become unhealthily obsessed with postliberalism, a once-fringe form of conservatism now at the highest levels of power. The postliberal vision for America is oppressive, terrifying, and theocratic -- and it is being put into effect right now.

Part two in a series on this ideology is now up at jaymichaelson.substack.com.

@leonardcohen on Judaism and spiritual crisis.

@leonardcohen on Judaism and spiritual crisis.

In 2017, researchers at Johns Hopkins University g

In 2017, researchers at Johns Hopkins University guided 29 Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religious leaders on two high-dose psilocybin trips, to see what effects, if any, the experiences would have on their religious and psychological lives. The results of that study are now being released, prompting a remarkable essay in the @newyorkermag by @michael.pollan .

Here, I provide some more texture of the religious questions raised by the study and Pollan's coverage.

Up now at jaymichaelson.substack.com

There are ways that I’ve found, and taught, to f

There are ways that I’ve found, and taught, to find happiness in the midst of all this chaos, without sacrificing the engagement and involvement in public life that I think this moment demands of us. There are ways through which authentic, durable, actual happiness can be cultivated, even when things are not okay: even when the heart is broken, when the mind is anxious, and even when the world seems to be falling apart.

And yet, I sometimes feel that, as soon as I talk about resilience, mindfulness, psychedelics, happiness, or balance, I sound like a privileged, narcissistic twit. Who the hell cares about the happiness of people like me when the fire is raging?

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Emperor Jar Jar.

Emperor Jar Jar.

When Israel’s military operations in Gaza began

When Israel’s military operations in Gaza began in October, 2023, I defended them. But now, 19 months later, I am horrified, filled with rage and despair at actions that legally constitute genocide.

Read more at forward.com (link in bio)

American Nationalists and American small-l liberal

American Nationalists and American small-l liberals (which includes liberals, centrists, and the neo-conservative Right) may inhabit the same geographical area, but in our minds, we live in different countries. We look at the Statue of Liberty and see different things. Liberals see pluralism, diversity, civil liberties, and multiculturalism. Nationalists see American particularism, Christianity, patriotism, and nationalism. And so of course we see one another as opposed to what makes America great.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

#banalityofevil

#banalityofevil

Looking forward to joining @iuindianapolis and the

Looking forward to joining @iuindianapolis and the @jccindianapolis on Tuesday 5/13 for a conversation about psychedelics and spirituality. Details at the link in bio.

My chapter "Queer Theology and Social Transformati

My chapter "Queer Theology and Social Transformation: Points of Contact, Points of Conflict" has been published in this remarkable new anthology from @clgs_psr entitled "Mapping New Terrain in Queer Religious Scholarship." The chapter is also available for download at the link in my bio. I'm honored to be included with some very esteemed colleagues!

#themoreyouknow

#themoreyouknow

Great histories (and tragedies) focus on the “Gr

Great histories (and tragedies) focus on the “Great Men” who, for good or ill, shape human history. But for every Stalin, there are a thousand apparatchiks, petty officials who sense an opportunity to advance, as long as they tow the line of the most powerful. This is where the banality of evil takes place: not in the Emperor’s Chambers, but in the wheatfields of Mina-Rau, where under the shadow of vast silos, power is distributed to the ambitious and the pathetic, and violence is visited upon the good.

New at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Yeah, let's not both-sides this thing, eh?

Yeah, let's not both-sides this thing, eh?

This Sunday evenin, I'll be at the @92ndstreety in

This Sunday evenin, I'll be at the @92ndstreety in Manhattan doing a live taping of my longtime friend @rabbiingber 's new podcast, "Detours and Destinations." Come join us for some of each.

Some of the elements of this moment are new: the r

Some of the elements of this moment are new: the role of the Internet, the proximity of its darkest corners to the corridors of power, and the extent of the Trump administration’s unconstitutional defiance. But some is quite old. I was half-joking when I analogized the interpretation of tattoos to the interpretation of sacred symbols and signs, but only half. The human predilection to pattern recognition manifests first and foremost in religion, magic, and fortune telling of all sorts. We read the tea leaves, wonder at synchronicities — and if we attune ourselves to them, we see them everywhere.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Yes, thanks for all the antisemitism-fighting. I f

Yes, thanks for all the antisemitism-fighting. I feel much safer now.

I'm headed to Madison, WI, tomorrow, April 24, to

I'm headed to Madison, WI, tomorrow, April 24, to talk about the cultivation of altered states of consciousness in Kabbalah, Sufism, Psychedelics, and the blendings of all of the above.

@uwmadison

Sometimes, I feel anxious about the fragile Americ

Sometimes, I feel anxious about the fragile American experiment in democracy, enraged that so many people are already living in abject terror right now, and equally enraged at the hundred million or so Americans who think things are going great.

Then again, it’s a lovely spring day, I’ve had a full day—preparing a talk on gender in the Talmud, finishing the final for my psychedelics class at Harvard, taking my daughter bike-riding—and it’s possible, for people with my good fortune, to still live pretty normally. Is this obscene, or human, or both?

Continue reading at jaymichaelson.substack.com .

What does CECOT say about us?

What does CECOT say about us?

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