SOS Flyer-2025 | jaymichaelson.net

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

MENUMENU

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
Multimedia
- Law/Politics/Religion
- Spirituality/Meditation
Speaking
About

SOS Flyer-2025

Get the "Both/And" Newsletter

Recent Articles

The Fight for the Rule of Law is On

Feb 5th, 2025 in Both/And
Hakeem Jeffries is Right About God

Jan 31st, 2025 in Both/And
A Surprising Inauguration Day Emotion

Jan 20th, 2025 in Both/And
Before I learned Kabbalah, I learned from David Lynch

Jan 17th, 2025 in Forward
Gaza ceasefire is the result of political machination — not Donald Trump

Jan 15th, 2025 in Forward
more...

jaymichaelsoninsta

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

Serena's husband (who also founded a popular websi

Serena's husband (who also founded a popular website) has some thoughts about online haters.

Sharing a few thoughts on the modest proposal to f

Sharing a few thoughts on the modest proposal to forcibly exile two million people and commit genocide (as defined in the Genocide Convention).

Ever since Trump came down that escalator in 2015,

Ever since Trump came down that escalator in 2015, progressives and other Democrats have tried, in vain, to describe the crisis he represents. We’ve called him a racist, a demagogue, a liar, a convicted felon, even a rapist. In recent weeks, his regime has been called a constitutional crisis, a threat to democracy, a coup, and, yes, the dawn of fascism.

And yet, however true or false these claims may be, it should go without saying that none of them has “worked” — by which I mean, they have not persuaded a sufficient number of Americans to oppose him.

And they’re not going to start working now.

Continue reading at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Here's some moral clarity.

Here's some moral clarity.

I wrote a viral social media post in response to t

I wrote a viral social media post in response to the many sincerely anguished claims that nothing is being done to stop Trump. The anguish is totally understandable, but the claim is not reflective of the facts. Actually, a lot is being done -- this new post has a partial list. At jaymichaelson.substack.com

Honored to be part of @emoryuniversity 's upcoming

Honored to be part of @emoryuniversity 's upcoming "Science on Spiritual health" symposium with these extremely talented scholars, scientists, and innovators. The conference is free and will be streaming online as well as in-person. Link in bio for more details or just search the conference title to learn more.

A blessed mid-winter, however you celebrate (Candl

A blessed mid-winter, however you celebrate (Candlemas, Imbolc, Groundhog Day, Early Tu Bishvat).

A lot of progressives hated the tweet by @repjeffr

A lot of progressives hated the tweet by @repjeffries saying that while presidents come and go, "God is still on the throne."

I thought it was exactly the right thing to say. Read why at jaymichaelson.substack.com .

Come join me and @davesmithdharma for a pay-what-y

Come join me and @davesmithdharma for a pay-what-you-can online conversation on February 17.

Western Buddhism exists amid a confusing array of cultural contexts. In addition to whatever we know, or think we know, about the teachings of the Buddha, the dharma as understood today may also partake of Buddhist modernism, psychotherapy and mental health, wellness culture and ‘toxic positivity’, spiritual adventurism, optimizer culture, contemporary social justice movements, Western religion and atheism, and any number of currents of thought.

Along with these cultural influences come varying conceptions of what the Dharma is supposed to do, from full enlightenment and total extinguishment of desire to a little stress reduction while you go about your busy capitalist life. Sometimes all at the same time!

In this evening workshop, Dave Smith and Jay Michaelson will talk about “realistic dharma,” which sets the ideals of liberation in historical and contemporary contexts, so that we can be more clear about what we want to get clear about.

Link in bio for registration, or visit https://seculardharmafoundation.com

I'm proud of what I and my community have stood fo

I'm proud of what I and my community have stood for, still stand for, and will continue to stand for despite the temporarily prevailing political winds.

An #inauguration day contemplation.

An #inauguration day contemplation.

"When I was a young adult, Lynch was one of my her

"When I was a young adult, Lynch was one of my heroes. In his work, he depicted the utter strangeness of the world we inhabit, teaching me to see in new ways. Like a Kabbalist, he peeled back the layers of reality to reveal hidden worlds. He fixated on the poetry (and often absurdity) of everyday objects: a steaming radiator, a hot cup of coffee. In many ways, he taught me how to be a mystic, which is how I most like to be a Jew."

Read more at @jdforward - forward.com.

The ceasefire was delayed by political machination

The ceasefire was delayed by political machination, and finally achieved by political machination. As if Palestinian and Israeli lives are just pawns in the game. New in @jdforward

In the newsletter this week: denial, anger, and ot

In the newsletter this week: denial, anger, and other stages of grief. Jaymichaelson.substack.com

One of the perks of parenthood is enjoying #dadjok

One of the perks of parenthood is enjoying #dadjokes unapologetically.

"It does seem very likely that the skills required

"It does seem very likely that the skills required to thrive in the second half of the 21st century will be very different from those of value today. A lot of the work I do can be done by smart enough machines, and they’ll be here soon enough.

And given America’s penchant for denial when it comes to macroeconomic change—witness ‘make America great again’—we as a society seem ill-equipped to handle such large-scale transformations politically, or to cope with them emotionally and spiritually.

At the very least, the information, culture, and “content” that my daughter experiences will be qualitatively different, and far less tethered to reality, than anything we’ve yet experienced. I assume it will become increasingly difficult to tell real from deepfake, and I assume that Generations Alpha and beyond will accept this as part of their lives, just as Gen Z has accepted always-online-ness as part of theirs. The massive squall of misinformation that haunts today’s internet will surely seem like amateur hour compared to what we’ll see in the next decade."

New in the newsletter - jaymichaelson.substack.com

For @myjewishlearningcom this week, I wrote a shor

For @myjewishlearningcom this week, I wrote a short essay on how uncertainty is a fundamental aspect of human life -- not some avoidable bug in the system. Link in bio or search the title to read it.

As a parent, I think about this every day. And a

As a parent, I think about this every day.

And as a child of parents who didn't have this insight integrated.

For ARC magazine, I reviewed the latest book by on

For ARC magazine, I reviewed the latest book by one of my academic heroes, Professor Jeffrey #kripal . I took a deep dive, assessing Kripal's embrace of the paranormal and startling (but also somewhat familiar) metaphysical explanation for how things like #precognition and #ufo sightings are actually real. Up now at arcmag.org .

Load More Follow on Instagram

Media Inquiries/ Speaking Engagements:

awalker@apbspeakers.com

Jay-Michaelson-face

Connect

Sign up for the newsletter

©2025 | Website design by Simon Abramson | Upgrades by Springthistle

Search for: