jaymichaelson.net

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

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    • 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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articles

McDonald’s: A Better Opiate for the Masses?

Oct 1, 2001 in Zeek

Learning about the Meaning of Life at Kinko’s

Aug 1, 2001 in Zeek

On Listening to the Kulturkampf: How America Overruled Bowers v. Hardwick, even though Romer v. Evans didn’t

Apr 1, 2000 in Duke Law Journal

Geoengineering: A Climate Change Manhattan Project

Jan 1, 1998 in Stanford Environmental Law Journal

Rethinking Regulatory Reform: Toxics, Politics, and Ethics

May 1, 1996 in Yale Law Journal

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Academic @ emory @harvard
Journalist @jdforward @arc.magazine.jcdc
Writer Speaker Rabbi Dad
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Just follow these five simple steps. #meditation Just follow these five simple steps. 

#meditation 
@danharris 
#sorryforthetypo
Here in New Jersey, a group called the United Demo Here in New Jersey, a group called the United Democracy Project has been attacking congressional candidate
@malinowskifornj / Tom Malinowski from the left, alleging that he supports ICE.

But in fact, the “United Democracy Project” is a Super PAC affiliated with AIPAC that has poured over $2.2 million into this primary election, according to FEC data. 

This is all a shell game.

AIPAC isn’t running ICE ads because they care about immigrants; they’re attacking Malinowski for his temerity to defy AIPAC’s demand that aid to Israel be completely unconditional. 

But the main beneficiary of AIPAC's covert activity may be a Sanders/Mamdani style progressive who has been harshly critical of Israel.

Read more at forward.com

@jdforward
This is a theology I can embrace. #octaviabutler This is a theology I can embrace.

#octaviabutler
Tell me again that ICE is about deporting illegal Tell me again that ICE is about deporting illegal immigrants?
I'm excited to be the teacher of the month startin I'm excited to be the teacher of the month starting next week at 10% with @danharris . To kick things off, Dan and I will be co-hosting a live hangout and meditation on Tuesday, February 3, at 4pm ET. The session is free for Dan's subscribers -- check it out at danharris.com or login at app.danharris.com.
What life feels like now. #kafka What life feels like now.

#kafka
This week, I decided to do something different in This week, I decided to do something different in the newsletter: situate this profound political moment into a philosophical, even mystical, context. 

Up now at jaymichaelson.substack.com .
The "meaning crisis" refers to the loss of structu The "meaning crisis" refers to the loss of structures of purpose, value, and community in contemporary Western society. This is a widespread cultural phenomenon, and has fueled the rise in mental health issues on the one hand, and the rise in ultra-right-wing nationalism, religion, and morality on the other. In this conversation, dharma teacher Dave Smith and I will talk about the main features of this crisis and how contemplative practice can be one of the many tools we have to address it. The conversation is free -- register at seculardharmafoundation.org/programs.

#meaningcrisis #dharma #jaymichaelson
Just for reference. #umbertoeco Just for reference.

#umbertoeco
Instagram post 18106354207739550 Instagram post 18106354207739550
God asks Cain where Abel is — though of course, Go God asks Cain where Abel is — though of course, God already knows. Cain replies “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

But God responds, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.”

Read closely and see. Cain is lying, of course; he knows exactly what he has done. He also denies responsibility; it’s not his job, he says, to take care of Abel. Ha-shomer achi anochi, he asks. Literally, am I my brother’s guard? His protector? Am I supposed to keep him safe?

Cain’s lies are like those of Miller, Bovino, Noem, and the rest. They are transparently preposterous. We are not God, but we can all watch the videotape; we can all inspect the freeze-frames of Pretti lying on the ground being beaten and then being shot.

And we can all easily learn that Pretti, like Abel, was innocent. He was not violently resisting, he posed no threat to these officers. He was no more a “terrorist” than I am.

Pretti’s blood cries out from the ground. And it is louder than the lies of the murderers.

My latest in @jdforward - link in bio.
Even in Biblical myths, the cruel murdered the alt Even in Biblical myths, the cruel murdered the altruistic.

#alexpretti
#amandagorman is still my poet laureate #alexpret #amandagorman is still my poet laureate

#alexpretti
The Good shooting and the Greenland operation are The Good shooting and the Greenland operation are mirror images of one another. Both invite us to disregard what is obviously true — the president is mad, the mom was innocent — and somehow believe the preposterous instead.

What Orwell could not have anticipated was the omnipresent overwhelm of our age of semiotic infinity: his world had a single telescreen, ours has infinite ones. But it turns out totalitarian propaganda thrives just as much in abundance as in privation.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

#davos #trump
I know this one's a little less subtle than other I know this one's a little less subtle than other things I like to post, but this is basically all that I can think about right now, so.
Polling shows most Americans oppose what ICE is do Polling shows most Americans oppose what ICE is doing. But it's up to us to keep this story alive. Here are four things you can do to help do so.

Videos and more information at jaymichaelson.substack.com .
There have been plenty of "takes" on the shooting There have been plenty of "takes" on the shooting of Renee Good. Instead of yet another of those, I wanted to focus on what must happen now and how you can play a role.

Online now at jaymichaelson.substack.com
I've been saving this meme for the right moment, a I've been saving this meme for the right moment, and now is obviously the right moment.
This hit TV show about hunky hockey players broke This hit TV show about hunky hockey players broke my cynical gay heart. And, to my surprise, it awoke memories of an entire life I used to live, but had since quite forgotten.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

#heatedrivalry @rachelreidwrites #booktok @jacob.tierney @heatedrivalrycrave
If you journaled or otherwise recorded what you we If you journaled or otherwise recorded what you were most worried about a year ago, how much of it came to pass? And what happened that you never would have predicted?

For me, the point is not to evaluate whether things are worse or better than expected (they are both), but to notice that they diverged from expectations in ways that are interesting, revealing, and grounding. In a zone flooded with excrement, it’s almost a kind of raft.

Up now at jaymichaelson.substack.com
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