An experiment in the power of human consciousness to free itself from the fear of life

JUST ONE LOOK

A Message from John Sherman

If you will just try to look at yourself with your minds eye, the fear of life will disappear, and with it the perception of your life as a problem to be solved, a threat to be destroyed, or the hiding place of some secret treasure that might bring you fulfillment and satisfaction at some future time. (John Sherman) Im going to try and show you directly how to rid yourself of the incessant background murmur of anxiety that ruins life for most of us once and for all, and where to find the treasure of abiding satisfaction with life using a simple act of inward looking that is very easy to perform. I would be grateful if you would follow closely what Im about to say, even if you have been with us for a long time, and even if you have direct personal experience of the effects of the looking. I would also be grateful if you would put aside anything else you are doing now other than following what I am saying here and trying to do what I am suggesting. It wont take long 10 to 15 minutes at the most.1 The simple act of inward looking First, lets talk about the simple act of inward looking that snuffs out the fear of life. To begin with, what do I mean by the phrase inward looking? That sounds like a good place to start. What I mean by the phrase inward looking is what we all do naturally whenever we purposely bring our minds eye, that is to say the focus of our attention, to any particular sensation present in the ocean of thought and sensation that fills our consciousness. For example, right now, as you are reading this, notice that even though there is a universe of thought and other sensations also present in your awareness, your attention is focused to a greater degree on this text, ignoring to one degree or another all the rest of it. Now I want you to move the focus of your attention away from this text and to place it on the feel of your breath, as it comes into and goes out of your body. And then, I want you to begin to count each breath. For me, the easiest moment to count the breath is at the end of the outbreath. So, you will breathe in, breathe out, watching all the while and then, at the moment the outbreath ends, count it silently
1 For an audio recording of these instructions, see http://www.riverganga.org

to yourself. Notice as you do this, that it takes a moment or two just to understand what I am suggesting and to find the feel of it, and then to settle your attention into it. Notice too that you are actually able to deliberately change the direction of your focus. This is very important, and may not be as obvious as it sounds. For many of us, it can seem that attention just automatically goes to what calls it and it does, most of the time but when you want to, you really can move and focus the beam of your attention wherever you want it to be, even if for just a few seconds at a time. Even if this is already obvious to you, notice it now freshly, this power that you have to move and focus attention at will. Now, whenever you are ready, move your attention to your breath and begin counting. If you lose count, simply start over from one. Do this for two or three minutes, and then come back and continue reading this text. Now that you saw that you can focus your attention on your breath, I want you to move the focus of your attention to the feel of your relaxed tongue in your mouth for a moment. I chose the tongue because most of the time its presence goes unnoticed, except when we accidentally bite it. The tongue actually has quite a strong and dense sensation associated with it and youll notice it if you turn your attention to it. The same method applies here as with focusing your attention to the text on this page or to your breath. First you choose to do it, and it takes a moment to understand what it is you are looking for, and then a little more time to settle in to the feel of it. Now stop reading and focus your attention on the feel of your tongue in your mouth. Do this for two to three minutes, and come back to the text. Now, I want you to move the focus of your attention to what it feels like to be you. Take a moment to understand that what you are looking for is nothing but the feel of you, the feel of what you would call me. You are looking for exactly what you refer to whenever you say the word me. Nothing special here, nothing more than that. As you do this, the universe of thoughts and sensations is still present in your awareness, calling your attention. You can, if you choose to do so, put your attention on any attractive object out there. But if you try, you should also be able to sense the faint, subtle sensation in the background of everything else that is the recognizable feel of you, what it has always felt like to be you. What it felt like to be you when you were a child. What it always feels like to be you, just the plain and simple feel of me. Now, try to put your attention on that subtle feeling of what you call me for just a tenth of a second.

And that is all there is to the simple act of inward looking that is pretty much all I speak about, and that I claim to be the actual solution to all human experience of life as misery and dissatisfaction.1 If you followed along, and did as I asked you, you almost certainly have just accomplished that act, whether you know it or not. Keep in mind that there will have been little if any actual sign of your success, very little in the way of recognizable sensation to tell you that you actually have had the direct experience of you. It may be some time before any results begin to show up, and even longer before you can actually recognize them for what they are. In fact, the first indication that you have succeeded may be that you find yourself trying to do this again and again, even if you can see no results from it and no point to it. But you cant fail. What you are trying to do, what you are trying to look at is, after all, just you. How could you not recognize the feel of your own presence here? It almost seems that the looking is the finding. If you continue to look, you will have set an irreversible course toward sanity. With time, your relationship with the events in your mind and in your life will change. Things that used to irritate or bother you will not have the same effect on you anymore. Neurotic patterns of behavior and self-destructive conditioned reactions that used to arise in determined circumstances will be replaced by more positive, non-destructive ones. The gap between you and your life will diminish and a new kind of intimacy with life will reveal itself to you. Just like that. It starts with one look. Just one look. Its that simple.

The cause and the cure to the human march toward self-destruction I believe that human nature is inherently moral and benevolent and that the appearance of the fear of life2 has created an internal war between the natural human state of intelligence, skillfulness, good will and love of life on one side and on the other, the hatred of life that contaminates the entire context of understanding and all the psychological structures that form the experienced shape of my life for me. I believe that all human self-destructive beliefs, all conditioned negative reactions, all hatred of self and other, all greed, all cowardice, all deceitfulness, all narcissistic antipathy to life, all war, murder, rape, theft and every other form of neurotic and destructive behavior in humans are effects symptoms really of the fear of life, which operates in human beings as a kind of existential autoimmune disease, tirelessly seeking to protect us from our own lives and in doing so, poisoning life for us.
1 For more details on the act of looking inward, see http://www.justonelook.org
2

For more on the appearance of the fear of life, see http://www.thefearoflife.org

I believe that when the disease that is the fear of life is cured, the psychological mechanisms that are the symptoms of the disease begin to vanish and in their place, new habits, new healthy conditioned reactions, and an entirely new context of understanding will begin to form that is consistent with the true human nature of good will and community. I believe that if the fear of life can be eradicated from humanity, it may still be possible for the human experiment to survive and prosper and thrive. I know that the simple act of inward looking we just experienced together has done just that in my life, in my wife Carlas life, and in the lives of many, many others now all over the world, which constitute a growing community of people who have seen the fear of life disappear and, as their relationship with their own lives begins to heal, share their experiences with one another and support one another in many ways. A community of people who have gone sane. I also believe that if we do not stop the insane, fear-driven behavior that now has us all in its thrall, it will soon be the end of humanity once and for all.

Maybe now, with the looking, we actually can save ourselves The act looking inward is profoundly plain, simple, and self-evidently harmless. It contends with nothing, not even with the symptoms of the disease it cures. It requires no new understanding, no agreement with any existing understanding old or new and no abandonment of any existing understanding, belief or any other thing. It requires nothing but the will to do it and a moments time. Because of this, I believe that anyone who hears the suggestion to try this act of looking inward will almost automatically try to do it on the spot. Why wouldnt they? Why wouldnt you? What is there to lose? I believe that when you try it, you will succeed, and your relationship with your own life will begin to mend. The instruction in the act is extremely brief, completely free of charge, and available to all with no strings whatsoever attached. Deep support in understanding the results of the act and navigating the period of recovery from the disease can easily be found in a growing, vibrant online community of people1 who have seen for themselves what is possible with this simple act, and offer the generous help and support from their own experience that you would expect in any true family of human beings.

1 Visit our online Community Center at http://www.riverganga.org/Community/Board/

Will you join with us in this experiment? We can actually put all this to the test. We can find out if there is any truth to what I am saying here by simply bringing the suggestion to look at yourself to the ears of enough human beings so that all humans will hear of it. We have launched an experiment to do just that. We call it the Just One Look Experiment. You can find out more and get involved in the experiment at our website: http://www.justonelook.org Were aiming for a year-long campaign to culminate on November 13, 2012 at 19:00 UTC/GMT when everyone who has heard of this experiment worldwide will join together and simultaneously look at themselves for a moment. Just to see what happens. The experiment is a program of the RiverGanga Foundation1, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that provides the support for our work. We are now developing the structure and the practical plan that we need to accomplish this goal. Soon there will be Volunteer Form2 on our website where you will be able to offer to be a part of this work and volunteer your time and skills to bring the looking to the world. We will need all sorts of help, in areas such as web design, social network management, fund-raising, SEO, financial management, accounting, book keeping, translations, and much more. If you go now to http://www.justonelook.org, fill out and submit the Im In form at the bottom of the page, you will begin receiving regular email updates as the project develops. Thank you again for the time and attention youve given me here. I hope to see you among the people who have committed to this experiment, and I wish you good health and a satisfying life. John Sherman Just One Look
Its that simple. Ojai, California November 10, 2011

More information: http://www.justonelook.org Free audios and videos: http://www.johnsherman.org Free ebooks: http://www.riverganga.org/eBooks/
1 For more information about the RiverGanga Foundation, visit http://www.riverganga.org 2 To volunteer your time and skills to this work, please go to http://www.riverganga.org/go/volunteer