Voices of Literacy | jaymichaelson.net

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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Voices of Literacy

Wed, Jun 30

2021

$12
at Literacy Chicago

Online
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Recent Articles

Lucy Pulls the Football Away Again

Feb 27th, 2025 in Both/And
Is Religious Freedom for Liberals, Too?

Feb 27th, 2025 in Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera
The Most Important Sentence Donald Trump Has Ever Said

Feb 19th, 2025 in Both/And
What’s So Bad About Fascism?

Feb 10th, 2025 in Both/And
The Fight for the Rule of Law is On

Feb 5th, 2025 in Both/And
more...

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This Thursday, March 13, I'll be giving a free onl

This Thursday, March 13, I'll be giving a free online talk about corporeality and physicality in the Frankist heresy for the Swedenborg Library.

In the newsletter this week: five helpful words.

In the newsletter this week: five helpful words.

jaymichaelson.substack.com

Over at ARC magazine, I took a look at the recent

Over at ARC magazine, I took a look at the recent lawsuit filed by a group of progressive religious organizations claiming that the new ICE rules (allowing agents to enter churches to make arrests) violate their religious freedom.

Will the conservative court side with principle, or politics?

At arcmag.org and the link in bio.

The numbers tell the story, but humans need actual

The numbers tell the story, but humans need actual stories.

More on this -- jaymichaelson.substack.com

In approximately the year 125, the Roman satirist

In approximately the year 125, the Roman satirist Juvenal wrote that people can be hoodwinked by pānis et circēnsēs — bread and circuses. Give them that, and politicians can get away with almost anything, including screwing the people who put them there.

Probably the word “circus” connotes mere entertainment, but in Juvenal’s time, it was often a particular kind of entertainment: moral entertainment. Christians, slaves, and foreigners battled one another (and various animals) to the death, as Rome asserted its dominance, degrading those it sought to subjugate. No doubt, it made the Roman mob feel better about themselves — after all, they’re not the ones being oppressed — even as their own lives were being degraded by their leaders.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

Still the same old game.

Still the same old game.

Israel-Palestine Echo Chambers: Judaism Unbound Ep

Israel-Palestine Echo Chambers: Judaism Unbound Episode 471 - Jay Michaelson

Jay Michaelson, an award-winning journalist, professor, rabbi, and author, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation exploring centrism and radicalism, misinformation that circulates far and wide on the topic of Israel-Palestine, and how we might strive for a better Jewish collective relationship to this important issue. This episode is the 5th in an ongoing mini-series exploring North American-Jewish discourse about Israel-Palestine.

Found on the internet...

Found on the internet...

We're in Phase One of a constitutional crisis: the

We're in Phase One of a constitutional crisis: the president is doing manifestly illegal, unconstitutional things. In Phase Two, the courts will rule against him. In Phase Three, he will tell them to go to hell.

Read more at jaymichaelson.substack.com

This is the project I've been focused on for the l

This is the project I've been focused on for the last several months: a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary symposium on psychedelic practice in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities.

Having sold out the symposium in person, we've now decided to make it available online, free of charge. Please visit psychedelicsandreligion.info to register and learn more.

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.

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