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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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Recent Articles

Opportunism, Madness, Nihilism, and Terror

Apr 10th, 2025 in Both/And
Stephen Miller’s cavalier cruelty misses the whole point of Passover

Apr 9th, 2025 in Forward
The Glass is Already Broken

Apr 3rd, 2025 in Both/And
Waiting for Midnight: A Quasi-Optimistic Take

Mar 28th, 2025 in Both/And
Letter to a Trump-Supporting Technologist

Mar 20th, 2025 in Both/And
more...

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Professor @emory @harvard
Journalist @cnn @rollingstone @jdforward
Psychedelics Scholar Rabbi Writer Dad
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jaymichaelson.substack.com

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?

Parsing the various motives of Republican scare-mo

Parsing the various motives of Republican scare-mongers terrified about losing their masculinity.

New at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Jewish law is clear: legal seriousness is essentia

Jewish law is clear: legal seriousness is essential, due process is sacred, and empathy is a prerequisite for justice.

New in @jdforward

V'im kol zeh, ani maamin ("And despite all this, I

V'im kol zeh, ani maamin ("And despite all this, I still believe").

#rebzalman

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about this teac

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about this teaching from Thai Buddhist master Ajahn Chah, quoted in Mark Epstein’s book Thoughts Without a Thinker:

You see this goblet? For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.

There’s a lot in this teaching. It’s sustained me over the past few weeks, especially in the hard times. I wrote about it this week in my newsletter - jaymichaelson.substack.com

Today and tomorrow: I'll be speaking at the @emory

Today and tomorrow: I'll be speaking at the @emoryuniversity symposium on "Science on Spiritual Health," talking tomorrow about #psychedelics in religious communities. The event streams for free online, and features an all-star cast, if I may say so myself. Come join us!

https://psychedelics.emory.edu/events/sos-twenty-five.html

This is exactly my experience as part of the Ameri

This is exactly my experience as part of the American #jewish community.

#jewishlife

How will Republicans take away rights from gays an

How will Republicans take away rights from gays and lesbians? Here's how.

Another excerpt from the @state_of_belief . Full clip link in bio.

On @cnn recently, I was part of a panel discussing

On @cnn recently, I was part of a panel discussing the role of right-wing social media in the 2024 election. I suggested we widen the frame to talk about the meaning crisis, and how Republicans tapped into resentment but offered no real solutions, while Democrats offered real solutions but failed to tap into resentment.

This #ajahnchah teaching has been a guidepost for

This #ajahnchah teaching has been a guidepost for me over these last few weeks.

At this dire moment in American history, I find my

At this dire moment in American history, I find myself with a vaguely optimistic perspective — as long as “optimism” includes economic devastation, massive human rights abuses, and clear violations of the constitution.

Robert Reich calls this position “nauseous optimism.” I call it “Waiting for Midnight.”

read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Amid everything going on, I'm looking forward to j

Amid everything going on, I'm looking forward to joining the Providence Jewish community next weekend, April 4-5. I'll be talking about wisdom for the polycrisis, the spectrum of gender, and Judaism & psychedelics.

Signup links at https://www.jaymichaelson.net/events or at the link in bio

I've been thinking about this a lot. Right now doe

I've been thinking about this a lot. Right now does seem like an ending or turning point -- global nationalisms, AI, climate suicide. But then, people have always felt this way. What do you think?

Even when the news is bad, it's good to join @raus

Even when the news is bad, it's good to join @raushenbush and @state_of_belief to talk about "the rule of law and the chaos of MAGA."

Find The State of Belief on your favorite podcast app, or at the link in bio.

Back to quote memes for a bit. #ursulakleguin

Back to quote memes for a bit.

#ursulakleguin

Recently, I was talking with a friend in the tech

Recently, I was talking with a friend in the tech space, who told me that, in his circle, opinions about Trump are completely polarized: either this period is the end of democracy, or it’s the “golden age” (in Trump’s words). There is no in-between.

Since I actually know some of my friend’s pro-Trump friends, I imagined what it would be like to write them a letter. Not to send it – I have no delusions about persuading them – but to see if I could put my perspective into words. Read the result at jaymichaelson.substack.com

This Monday night, I'll be part of a free online f

This Monday night, I'll be part of a free online forum sponsored by @movingtraditions about the legal and physical threats facing trans and queer youth, and how we can help.

(The event is focused on Jewish community but all are warmly welcomed.)

Registration link in bio or at movingtraditions.org.

"The symposium was called Psychedelics and Monothe

"The symposium was called Psychedelics and Monotheistic Religions: Sacramental Practice and Legal Recognition, and responded to the dramatic increase, in recent years, of psychedelic use in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. While indigenous people have been using these compounds for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and while people of all backgrounds have been exploring them for a century, it is a new phenomenon that thousands of people experience and understand their psychedelic use as part of their Christian, Jewish, or Muslim religious practice or identity."

read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

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