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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
Articles
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- Law/Politics/Religion
- Spirituality/Meditation
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Recent Articles

How Meditation Helped Me in the Hospital (And After)

Jun 17th, 2025 in Both/And
Reflections after maybe almost dying

Jun 11th, 2025 in Both/And
No, I’m Not F—ing Inured to This!

Jun 4th, 2025 in Both/And
Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

Jun 3rd, 2025 in Forward
The Postliberal Hatred of America

May 28th, 2025 in Both/And
more...

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

"Why is there no straight Pride?"

"Why is there no straight Pride?"

For many years, as I practiced and taught meditati

For many years, as I practiced and taught meditation, I’ve wondered about how well it would work under extreme circumstances, like the ones I’ve been in for the last ten days. Had I banked enough hours on the cushion for the skills to be there when they really mattered? Or would the stress just be too much for them?

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

My latest in the newsletter. jaymichaelson.substac

My latest in the newsletter.
jaymichaelson.substack.com

Here, the internet rewrote the headline for you.

Here, the internet rewrote the headline for you.

At this point I'm sharing this as a kind of monume

At this point I'm sharing this as a kind of monument. All of the lies around illegal immigration are lies. All of this - the targeting, the violence, the rhetoric, the "invasion" - is a nest of lies. Whatever their real reason is for hating darker-skinned immigrants, it is not based on real crime statistics. Link in bio to full study.

Join me at @psychedelicscience 2025 in Denver in t

Join me at @psychedelicscience 2025 in Denver in two weeks! I'll be on three panels and look forward to connecting with, egads, thousands of psychonauts.

Use referral code SPEAKER15 at checkout, for 15% off your registration.
https://invt.io/1exb2jhykgb

Happy Pride/Rage Month.

Happy Pride/Rage Month.

How to tell stupid Trump BS from serious authorita

How to tell stupid Trump BS from serious authoritarian treason -- in the newsletter today at jaymichaelson.substack.com.

" I’m not suggesting that we should calm down be

" I’m not suggesting that we should calm down because everything is alright. Everything is not alright, not with Israel and Gaza, or with America, or with the world. I’m only saying we should not trust fear or anger to be our guides. This may mean walking yet another tightrope: of vigilance but not paranoia, security but not panic, honoring our emotions without handing our lives over to them. To fear is human, but to find resilience, strength, and balance on the tightrope is what some mean by the Divine."

Read more at forward.com

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!

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