John Sherman Texts

Online Intensive with John Sherman - Meeting 1 - July 2, 2012

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There was an interesting posting on the forum the other day, in which there was one statement that caught my attention. Something to the effect that the looking is an answer to a question that very few people are asking. Actually, that's not true. The looking answers a question that everybody is asking. The question is not, How do I get enlightened? How do I rid myself of the fear of life? How do I rid myself of ignorance? How do I rid myself of the sense that there's something wrong here that I have to do something about? Those questions are all second-order questions.

The real question that everybody asks is, Why?

Online Open House with John Sherman on July 25, 2012

 

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It seems like there's a lot that I'd like to talk about, but I'm not exactly sure how to say what I want to say. There has been a lot on my mind recently. Things pertaining to the way in which the recovery unfolds from this disease. I'm going to sit here with you for a while, and if something occurs to me to talk to you about, then I'll certainly speak up. If not, I'm happy to hear from you. I'm glad to be here with you. I'm glad to see you here, and if you have anything to talk to me about, raise your hand, and I'll be happy to talk to you. And, who knows, I might even think of something to say myself.

Public Meeting with John Sherman on July 15, 2012 in Ojai, California

 

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I was reading the magazine Rolling Stone yesterday, and I came upon something that caught my attention.  I presume everybody here knows Pink Floyd, right?  The founder, the animating spirit of Pink Floyd was a guy named Syd Barrett.  In 1968, Syd Barrett kind of went crazy.  He got locked up in a psychiatric hospital.  He ended up painting and gardening and kind of being a recluse somewhere here in southern California.  He lived until 2006, I think.  Syd Barrett was driven crazy, and it seems like he was driven crazy by his meeting with the insanity of the music industry.  He was a genius.  The guy was really amazing.  So in 1975, Pink Floyd issued an album called, Wish You Were Here, which was kind of an ode to the descent into hell of Syd Barrett and what had brought it about.  It is a great album, by the way.

How to rid yourself once and for all of the fear of life that spoils life and find satisfaction using a simple act of inward looking.

 

1. 'Looking' is what we do when we focus our attention

Looking is what we all do naturally when we focus our attention on anything present in our consciousness. For example, right now, as you read this, your attention is focused mostly on this text, ignoring to one degree or another everything else.

2. Notice that you can move your attention at will

Move the focus of your attention away from this text for a moment and place it on the feel of your breath as it comes into and goes out of your body.

Breathe in, breathe out. At the moment each outbreath ends, count it silently: 1, 2, 3, etc. until 10. If you lose count, simply start over from 1. Do this for two or three minutes, and then come back and continue reading this text.

3. Practice moving your attention at will

You just saw that you can focus your attention on your breath. Now stop reading for a moment and move the focus of your attention to your tongue. Focus your attention on the feel of your tongue in your mouth. Do this for two to three minutes, then come back to the text.

4. What is 'inward looking'?

Now move the focus of your attention inward to what it feels like to be you.

What you are looking for is the feel of what you would call me. You are looking for exactly what you refer to when you say the word 'me.' You are looking for the me-ness of you.

Here's a way to see what I am speaking about. Many people have found this helpful. Try to evoke a moment in your childhood. It can be anything, really. See if you can remember what it felt like to be you then.

That's exactly what it feels like to be you right now, isn't it? Look and see. It's the same sense of me. Exactly the same me-ness.

Try to put your attention on that subtle feeling of me for just a tenth of a second.

5. That's all there is to it

That's all there is to the simple act of inward looking that is the actual solution to the common experience of life as misery and dissatisfaction.
If you followed along, you have just accomplished that act and set a course towards sanity and satisfaction.

In time, your relationship with your life will change. Things that used to drive you crazy won't have the same effect on you anymore. Patterns of neurotic behavior and self-destructive reactions will be replaced by more positive, non-destructive ones.

The distance between you and your life will diminish and a new kind of intimacy with your life will slowly begin to emerge.

Just like that. It starts with one look.

Thank you for your time and attention. I wish you good health and a satisfying life.

John Sherman


JUST ONE LOOK
Experience the power of human consciousness to free itself of the fear of life

Just one look. It's that simple. 

More practical instructions on the act of looking inward at yourself.

For more on the primal cause of all our trouble.

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Meeting with John Sherman in Berkeley, California - May 13, 2011

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I see some people here that I’m familiar with and other people not so much, so I might as well start at the beginning.

About seventeen years ago, I set foot for the first time on the path of spiritual aspiration, in an attempt to resolve and get rid of the incessant sense of misery in being a human being in this life.  I had tried a lot of other things up until that time, and none of them had worked, so I set foot on the path of spiritual aspiration.