On the Meaning Crisis | Dave Smith Dharma | jaymichaelson.net : jaymichaelson.net

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

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On the Meaning Crisis | Dave Smith Dharma

Saturday, January 31st, 2026 | Multimedia, Spirituality/Meditation

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Recent Articles

An Epstein Roundup for Non-Epsteiners

Feb 6th, 2026 in Both/And
Trying to influence progressives in New Jersey, AIPAC may actually help one get elected

Feb 3rd, 2026 in Forward
Politics and Spirituality | Circle and Line

Jan 28th, 2026 in Both/And
The blood of Alex Pretti is crying out from the ground

Jan 26th, 2026 in Forward
The Nakedness of the King

Jan 21st, 2026 in Both/And
more...

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Academic @ emory @harvard
Journalist jaymichaelson.substack.com & @jdforward
Writer Speaker Rabbi Dad
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Oversimplification is a species of anti-intellectu

Oversimplification is a species of anti-intellectualism, and anti-intellectualism is the handmaiden of dogmatism — usually from the Right, but sometimes from the Left as well. It’s a lot simpler to blame the immigrants, the Jews, the corporations, Israel, or the Woke Mob than to say, yet again, that the causes of a crisis are complex and interrelated. For all the truth about the ‘Epstein Class,’ there’s also the falsehood that our entire economic and political miasma is due to a shadowy cabal of elite pedophiles. That is too simple, and oversimplification leads to conspiracy theories.

Indeed, even the most baroque, outrageous conspiracy theory is, in a sense, simpler than accommodating the multiple array of causes for a phenomenon and the biggest complexity of all: that there is no one minding the store.

I want to resist this urge to simplify. Were I still working as an activist, or a pundit with thirty seconds to make my point, I would, no doubt, still do so as a matter of necessity. But the better way is to accommodate ourselves to complexity, nuance, and uncertainty. These are our allies in the fight against the mob.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Wise and careful words from @repyassansari .

Wise and careful words from
@repyassansari .

Before the war started, I had the pleasure of talk

Before the war started, I had the pleasure of talking with Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush on the @state_of_belief podcast about the moral and political importance of the Epstein Files release.

Available wherever you get your podcasts and at the link in bio.

Nihilism seems to be everywhere today: in online c

Nihilism seems to be everywhere today: in online culture, in politics, in celebrity culture, and perhaps above all, in the high rates of hopelessness and meaninglessness reported by Gen-Z Americans. And a lot of it is grounded in reality: the death of the American economic dream (which is partly inevitable but is largely due to greed among the richest); the uncertainties of AI’s economic impacts, of climate disruption, and of the global rise in right-wing nationalism; and the decline in the kinds of shared beliefs, community, and culture that provided coherence and relationship to human beings for generations. It’s realistic to wonder and even despair about what lies ahead.

But the extent and expressions of this societal nihilism are still shocking when stared at directly.

This week in Both/And -- jaymichaelson.substack.com

In @jdforward this week, I begin with the curious

In @jdforward this week, I begin with the curious data point that only 37% of American Jews identify as Zionists but 88% support the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state (i.e. Zionism).

What explains this seeming contradiction? My claim is that it is about the difference between Zionism in principle and Zionism in practice.

Read more at forward.com

It's almost publication day for @ayinpress 's @bay

It's almost publication day for @ayinpress 's @bayo.akomolafe reader. If you don't know this original and provocative thinker, check him out. This maxim of his is central to my forthcoming book, "How to Grow Wings While Falling."

At first I couldn't decide what to write about thi

At first I couldn't decide what to write about this week -- then I realized, that's what I want to write about.

Featuring updates on Epstein, ICE, election interference, Elon Musk, and, if you read to the end... Cokeback Mountain.

jaymichaelson.substack.com

My @emoryuniversity colleague and mentor George Gr

My @emoryuniversity colleague and mentor George Grant often uses this maxim in training chaplains, whose role often is to mindfully coexist with a patient's (often extreme) discomfort. I think it's applicable to a much wider set of circumstances, including how we tend to our own discomforts and difficult emotions. Which come up a lot in times like these. Thanks, George.

Things shouldn't feel alright -- not if you're pay

Things shouldn't feel alright -- not if you're paying attention. But you can feel alright with them not being alright.

Now up at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Introspection: What might your soul be hungry for

Introspection: What might your soul be hungry for right now?

#simoneweil

The Five Precepts form the foundation of Buddhist

The Five Precepts form the foundation of Buddhist ethics in the insight tradition. Yet for queer people in 21st century America, they can also be a little…. fraught. What counts as “sexual misconduct” (if that’s even the right term to use)? Do all drugs “lead to confusion”? What counts as “harsh language” in a culture that is often serving tea?

In this 5 month series, we’re going to take an honest, deep, and participatory dive into the precepts. We’ll explore where they serve us, and where they may not. We’ll work with the complexities that come with any 2500-year-old tradition, particularly one which often promotes monasticism as an ideal.

Ultimately, we hope to arrive at multiple ways of navigating ethics and community together. (And since we take an expansive definition of queerness, you’re welcome to join if that word speaks to your experience.)

Descriptions for each class session appear below. You are welcome to sign up for the full course, or for individual sessions.

Class 1 – Protecting Life (Tuesday, Feb. 17, 6:30pm – 8:30pm ET)

Class 2 – Cultivating Generosity (Tuesday, March 17, 6:30pm – 8:30pm ET)

Class 3/Half-Day Retreat – The One about Sex (Saturday, April. 18, 10:00am – 1:00pm ET)

Class 4 – Skillful Speech (Tuesday, May 12, 6:30pm – 8:30pm ET)

Class 5 – What is an intoxicant? (Tuesday, June 16, 6:30pm – 8:30pm ET)

Register at nyimc.org - link in bio

Is America really "polarized" or is a relatively s

Is America really "polarized" or is a relatively small minority attempting a takeover, abetted by a media ecosystem that pumps out lies and distortions?

Up now at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Multiculturalism, pluralism, diversity, weirdness

Multiculturalism, pluralism, diversity, weirdness are all natural, indeed evolutionarily favorable. Being likes to be whimsical.

#benjaminblood

I spent an inordinate amount of time sifting throu

I spent an inordinate amount of time sifting through the coverage of the latest Epstein Files release, and made this roundup so that you don't have to.

tldr: As bad as you think it is, it's worse; the cover-up is ongoing; the victims are *still* being exploited and ignored; QAnon was partly right; and many, many MAGA people are realizing that they've been lied to. It's a big deal, not a sideshow.

Up now at jaymichaelson.substack.com
Please share.

I don't usually post already-popular pithy sayings

I don't usually post already-popular pithy sayings, but I'm really glad this one is entering the culture (largely through the comedian @peteholmes ). For thirty years I've been a proponent and exponent of "small-r religion" -- that is, religious myth, community, ethics, and spirituality without the naive theism, dogma, and particularism. With the resurgence of traditional religion as a response to the meaning crisis, I think this is more vital than ever. But also more true, at least in this human's limited understanding.

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?

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