I am a writer on zen, ethics, gender, economics, and ecology; a practitioner and Sensei (teacher) in the Zen tradition; a Professor of Economics (Emeritus); and mother of two grown children and grandmother of two.
These might seem like wildly different activities, but I’ve found more and more interconnections between them. A major theme on this blog is “mixing it up.” In fact, one of the commonalities I’ve found is how certain habits of rigid, categorical, oppositional thinking tend to mess us up, no matter whether we are talking about spirituality or statistics. You’ll see this theme throughout most of my blog posts.
I hesitated in starting this wide-ranging blog at least in part because professional economists don’t write about “squishy” things like emotions, spiritual practice, and illness. At least they don’t if they want to maintain the pretense of being detached scientists. I’ve never agreed with that image of what science is about, though. I believe that good science is open-minded investigation, and that it advances with thinking outside the box. I’ll turn 70 soon. What people think of me just isn’t so important anymore.
About my Zen teaching, I received full teaching transmission in the Taizan Maezumi Soto Zen lineage from Myoyu Andersen Roshi of the Great Plains Zen Center in 2023. If you read much of what I’ve written on this blog, though, you know that I am actively questioning and exploring what this means…and doesn’t mean. My home sangha is the Greater Boston Zen Community, where I serve as an Adjunct Teacher. Having weathered three major crises due to teacher arrogance and unethical conduct, the community is now a “sangha-led sangha.” The community emphasizes peer mentorship and is under the direction of a volunteer board. As an Adjunct Teacher, I give talks, lead discussion groups, and perform ceremonies at the behest of the board. I also engage in one-on-one conversations about Zen practice (dokusan) over zoom, including instruction in zazen and shikantaza, and the exploration of koan practice.
If you wish to contact me about Zen, please write to seido (at) julieanelson.com or julie (at) bostonzen.org. I continue to write and speak about abuses in Zen sanghas in spite of considerable backlash. You can read the introduction to my book Practicing Safe Zen here on this blog.
If you’re interested in my qualifications and record in economics, or in contacting me about that, you can easily find that info elsewhere on the web. My most accessible writing at the intersection of economics, ethics, and gender is my book Economics for Humans.
I am happy to learn of your blog, June. I look forward to more.
Julie, I can’t describe how deeply I am touched by your article, “Sick and Useless Zen.” Thank you, thank you, thank you! My practice is at an all time low where I just want to feel good; being good is not even a dominant motive at the moment. Peter Thambidurai, New Jersey.
Thank you, Peter, for taking the time to write a note. We aren’t alone in this…
Thank you very much for your ‘Sick and Useless Zen’ article Julie. Thank you for doing something good with your life. Peace and happiness always 🙂
super insightful!!! congrats on 63. “when i was 20, I cared what other people thought of me, when I turned 40, i stopped caring what people thought of me. At 60, I realized no one really thought much about me/” 🙂
I started “following” you over ten years ago even as you were winding down your active work in economics (a loss). I find the Zen stuff slightly interesting, though more as an insight into your thinking — your approach to thinking — than from an interest in Zen. I was ecstatic to see your return, however briefly, to economics in your recent paper (“Some Cautions About Solidarity”). I liked the paper and have saved it to my Julie Nelson folder (you’re in the company of Martha Nussbaum, Elizabeth Anderson, Amartya Sen, and Michael Sandel among others!). I’ll muse on it further, and try to work in some of your arguments into my current Geezer course (i.e., Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Denver University). While I appreciate that the current focus of your life and thought is on Zen, I hope you will still do some occasional economics writing. Your thoughtful and balanced thinking is all the more welcome in these fraught times. Thanks. /Mitch
Thanks for your comment! As a “geezer” myself, it’s interesting to hear about your course.