John Sherman Articles

About John Sherman

This article by David Bergwall (Uppsala, Sweden) was published on Wikipedia in 2009.

Biography

John Sherman was born in Camden, New Jersey. From adolescence he lived a life of crime, first to make a living and later for political reasons. His worst crimes include bank robbery and acts of sabotage. He was sent to prison several times but managed to escape. This caused him to be put on FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He was caught again, and while serving his thirty-year sentence decided to live a life in accordance with the law.

About halfway through his sentence Gangaji came to visit Sherman's prison. He had by then been a practicing Buddhist, but it was her teaching that led to the spiritual breakthrough that was to mark him since. She introduced him to Ramana Maharshi whose constant advocacy of self-enquiry inspired Sherman to devote most of his time to that practice. After leaving prison he worked with the Gangaji Foundation.

The Evolution of A Revolutionary

An article by Alex Fryer published in the Seattle Times on June 24, 1999

Over the years, people have shown an interest in John's history as a revolutionary bank robber in the 70's. Because of that, we thought it might be useful to post this article here. John gave an interview for this article in 1998. At the time, he was still on parole, living in a halfway house Boulder, Colorado, and he had a job as systems manager at the Gangaji Foundation.

This article by Alex Fryer first appeared in the June 24, 1999 issue of the Seattle Times.

Stepping into the mid-day Colorado sun, John Sherman pauses, searches his pockets for a quarter and excuses himself to make a phone call.

He tells a half-way house on the other side of Boulder that he is leaving a bakery to go back to work. It's one of the conditions of parole, he explains later. That, and not eating poppy seed muffins, which show up as opium in drug tests.

Minor inconveniences, he says, for a man who has spent the past 18 years in prison.

Escape From The Prison of Mind

This article by Randall Fitzgerald first appeared in the February 2005 issue of the Phenomena Magazine and is reproduced here with the author's permission.

After 15 years living a life of quiet despair in federal prison, John Sherman had lost interest in everything of importance, including the idea of ever being released. His friend, Alan, serving a sentence for drug trafficking, knew Sherman believed that spirituality was nothing more than the opiate of the people, but he decided to issue an invitation anyway.

"This American woman guru is coming to speak here at the prison," Alan announced. "She calls herself Gangaji. Would you like to meet her?"

Though Sherman had no interest in what she might have to say, spending a couple of hours with a woman, especially one described as gorgeous and articulate, seemed more appealing than the boredom of his daily routine.

"That sounds exotic and entertaining," he acknowledged.