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.
Teaching
At present, John Sherman works independently of all teachers and spiritual traditions, often declaring that they are unnecessary but entirely compatible with self-enquiry as taught by Ramana Maharshi. He encourages those who listen to him to continue living just the way they do but with the addition of self-enquiry. Sherman believes that all philosophy, religion and other human activities are failed attempts to find out what one is and be rid of the constant fear of life and death, the feeling of being in danger in life and unhappy with its content. He claims that self-enquiry gradually released him from this fear until it was completely gone, and that others can achieve the same:
"We will start from nowhere, knowing nothing but that we are here, as human beings, and that there seems to be something fundamentally wrong with life as a human: it seems that it should be better, easier, sweeter than it is. I want to persuade you to try Ramana's self-inquiry for yourself because I am certain that if you do, it will naturally energize your interior life and will, in the end, bring to an end the delusion of personal suffering in which we somehow come to see our lives as broken promises; the sensations of life that come and go in our bodies as objects of fear and lust and loathing; our minds as fearful dark jungles of confusion, our friends and neighbors and family as enemies; and the sweet, sweet world itself as a hostile encampment." [1]
Sherman's accessibility and indifference toward spiritual institutions, jargon and practices (self-enquiry excluded) mark his departure from the neo-advaita movement which first inspired him.
What John says is consistent with my experience after decades of seeking and practicing different systems, etc. What I wonder so often about these days is what is it that has people not seem to really hear or respond to such a clear and sincere communication that offers the fulfillment of life.
Posted by: R. David Parrish | September 05, 2009 at 04:33 AM