Welcome to Both/And !

A Substack about the intersections of politics & spirituality, left & right, queerness & religion, and other illusory dichotomies.

Hello! And thanks for reading.

Here’s what this Substack is about. For twenty-odd years, I’ve worked as a journalist, rabbi, activist, meditation teacher, and professor — often all at the same time. I talk about law and politics on CNN and I lead silent meditation retreats. I have a PhD in religion and a fancy law degree. I write books on spirituality and worked for ten years as an LGBTQ activist. My entire life is Both/And, both for better and for worse.

Throughout that broad range of work, I’ve almost always focused at the intersections of law, religion, spirituality, and sexuality. That’s my interest here as well. Both/And is interested in bridging polarities like left and right, secular and religious, ancient and contemporary. I’m interested in the spiritual and psychological roots of political ideology, bias, and our current age of polarization. I’m interested in contemplative practices that build resilience for living in the anthropocene. I think we can only understand politics by grokking the psychological, religious, and spiritual motivations beneath it. And I think real spirituality demands the pursuit of justice.

Beginning in 2016, it became really clear that these different fields were intersecting more than diverging. How can we explain the rise in populist nationalism without understanding its profound psychological, gendered, religious, and even spiritual underpinnings? How can we personally stay engaged with fighting global climate disruption, the rise of disinformation, or systemic racism without burning out on the one hand or unplugging on the other? Gradually, it became clear to me that I do my best work when I bring these different lines of inquiry - spiritual and political, legal and religious - together. Hence, both/and.

Both/And also takes an non-dualistic approach to polarities like left and right, secular and religious, ancient and contemporary. I have strong opinions - in fact, I’m paid to have them. But there is always truth on the “other side” of every binary, and every binary is porous. I hope to bring some of that both-and awareness to this work as well.

So, welcome to my Substack. Please consider subscribing to help sustain this idiosyncratic career of mine. And I sincerely look forward to your comments as this enterprise unfolds.

Cheers,

Jay

P.S. Despite all the above, I know that some readers may be more interested in [meditation/spirituality/mysticism/psychedelics] while others may be more interested in [law/politics/LGBTQ issues/religion/climate change]. So, Both/And offers the option to subscribe to either politics, or spirituality, or both. Obviously, the whole point is that most pieces I post will be about the intersections and overlaps between them. But feel free to receive emails from just those section(s) you’re into. There will likely be one post in each section per week, maybe a little more at first. -j