tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:57:02 +0000Excerpts adapted from live recordings of Meetings with John Sherman. Self-inquiry will not make of you anything that you are not already, but it will, over time, destroy the false belief that you are this body, this mind, this story, this life. That false belief is the root cause of all human suffering whatsoever.http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/index.shtmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)Blogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-115415449284669416Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:26:00 +00002008-08-10T22:47:51.494-07:00These are excerpts taken from live recordings of Meetings with John Sherman. This page has the first paragraph or so of the excerpt and a link to the full text. Go to this url: Subscribe to Excerpts from Meetings for quick subscription to this blog with various readers: Feed Demon, Yahoo, Google, AOL, and many more.http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2007/07/excerpts-from-satsang.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-2413760829355039266Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:54:00 +00002008-09-02T20:57:02.238-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - December 17, 2005 let me tell you in a nutshell what I have to say about this business of awakening and enlightenment you are right now in this moment as awake as you will ever be and that's true no matter in what moment I say that you are as awake as you will ever be Continued ... http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2008/06/you-are-as-awake-as-you-will-ever-be.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-3604488232535872070Mon, 24 Mar 2008 19:36:00 +00002008-03-24T12:48:20.124-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - August 15, 2006 The first aspect of self-inquiry is always available to you: to see what you are. That is easy, because you are always here. You cannot deny that. What you are has not changed, and it is unaffected by the story. So what you are, in reality, is the source of that absolute certainty that you exist. Nothing can be said http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2008/03/two-aspects-of-self-inquiry.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-6151921734971958070Wed, 02 May 2007 04:16:00 +00002008-06-22T15:38:24.310-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - October 21, 2006 It seems that eastern spiritual traditions share a common ground from which all the different teachings and practices spring. That common ground, that common viewpoint of reality is very seductive and it resonates with us in a way that nothing else does. It seems to have a couple of components to it. First, there is http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2007/05/origins-of-self-inquiry.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-7102642142954133952Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:26:00 +00002008-06-22T15:38:00.328-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - October 7, 2006 It is very hard to abandon the idea that my spiritual work will fix me, make me better, smarter, clearer, calmer, more loving and compassionate. It is very hard to swallow the view that my deepest purpose in life is to know consciously the truth of my nature, and that none of the work I do to make myself better is http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2007/03/you-dont-need-to-stop-anything.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-1235177842146612913Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:51:00 +00002008-06-22T15:37:33.902-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - October 20, 2006 I am no guru, but I am a teacher of sorts, and I do not conflate the teaching with the teacher. I am a teacher of sorts and I am trying to learn how to teach what I have to offer, I am trying to learn how to pass it on to you. Sometimes it seems like there is some success; other times it seems like I just cannot get it http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2007/03/i-am-no-guru.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-117012691938527904Tue, 30 Jan 2007 03:13:00 +00002008-06-22T15:37:08.644-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - September 9, 2006 The whole teaching of Ramana Maharshi can be reduced to two simple points. First of all, the only problem I have is a false idea about what I am. Secondly, the only solution to that problem is the truth about what I am. It's that simple. The truth of what I am is not far. It doesn't require gaining anything, it doesn'thttp://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2007/01/nothing-needs-to-be-done-about-story.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-116752466242665895Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:22:00 +00002008-06-22T15:36:36.077-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - October 4, 2006 My purpose in being here is to discuss with you and bring to you the practice of self-inquiry as offered by Ramana Maharshi. I am not a very spiritual person. I see nothing that is essentially spiritual in the practice of self-inquiry. In fact, it is my experience and my clear sense that the idea that there is anything http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/12/self-inquiry-is-not-spiritual.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-116443338350012608Sat, 25 Nov 2006 05:42:00 +00002008-06-22T15:36:00.703-07:00Adapted from an Afternoon with John Sherman Westlake Village, California - September 24, 2006 The longer that I am in this peculiar role, the less it seems to me that I have to do. For a long time, I talked about a whole lot of things and maybe that was of some help to people. But in the last six months or so, I have taken to calling this role I am in as the role of a servant of the teaching ofhttp://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/11/self-inquiry-is-like-medicine_24.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-116287515302561989Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:51:00 +00002008-06-22T15:35:22.873-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Westlake Village, California - June 25, 2006 The way to be finished once and for all in this life with suffering, dissatisfaction and longing is easy. It is easier than you can possibly imagine. In my experience, the hard part is hearing the instruction through the cloud of all of our spiritual understanding. Throughout human history, we have seen http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/11/only-thing-that-works.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-115930148851506634Tue, 26 Sep 2006 20:06:00 +00002008-06-22T15:34:50.054-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ashland, Oregon - May 19, 2006 I don't have much interest in spiritual experiences. I have no desire to transmit to you any experience of awakening, or peace, or bliss, or eternal love, or anything of the sort. I don't have any interest in the metaphysical understanding of the way the cosmos manifests. In fact, my interest in spiritual things is pretty http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/09/core-insight_26.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-115716011804250668Sat, 02 Sep 2006 01:19:00 +00002008-06-22T15:34:18.470-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - March 11, 2006 Every true spiritual teaching has at its core, the insight that the only problem is a false belief about what I am. This gets covered up and layered over, explained and understood, and forgotten more often than not, but at the core of every true spiritual teaching, there is this really simple insight that the source of http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/09/power-of-self-inquiry_01.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-115415129990636407Sat, 29 Jul 2006 05:32:00 +00002008-06-26T13:46:08.544-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Nevada City, California - March 4, 2006 We spend our lives trying to figure out what our actual nature is, but we do so unconsciously and without direction. From the time we are children, we are desperately seeking to cobble together some understanding of what I am, in terms of what I have come to understand is a satisfactory thing for me to be. These http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/07/only-truth-matters.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-114721950025737742Wed, 10 May 2006 00:03:00 +00002008-06-22T15:33:00.515-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - April 8, 2006 All of life is spiritual. No matter what we do, we have always been trying to know, finally, who we are. What can I get that will put an end to this incessant urge to get what I don't have? What is it that I need? In some lives, a shift occurs in which we come to believe that we have, for the first time, embarked upon a http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/05/magic-of-self-inquiry.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113926014011613207Mon, 06 Feb 2006 21:05:00 +00002008-06-26T13:57:47.716-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Santa Barbara, California - December 3, 2005 The purpose of your life is to find out who you are. This is not a new purpose to take on, but a clear observation of the reality of life. The only thing that stands between you and the finding of your heart's desire is the belief that your heart's desire is to be found in the story about you. That's all, http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/02/your-hearts-desire.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113925988022091046Mon, 06 Feb 2006 20:59:00 +00002008-06-26T13:58:24.593-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Santa Barbara, California - December 3, 2005 What do you want? Where do you find it? How do you get it? Wanting is the engine that drives us. That we want is certain. What is not so clear is what we want. When we think we want something, and we get it, we just shift our wanting energy to something else. So, the conclusion that can be derived from that http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2006/02/what-do-you-want.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113600592570567193Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:11:00 +00002008-06-26T14:07:21.020-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Santa Monica, California - July 10, 2005 In times like these, in crazy times like the times we live in now, the whole spiritual context can come to be seen, seemingly justifiably, as self-indulgent. The world is in flames, as if it has never been in flames before. The activities of the human beings are insane, murderous, inexplicable, and irrational, as http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/no-more-war_30.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113600570421663845Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:08:00 +00002008-06-26T14:12:09.780-07:00Adapted from a A Meeting with John Sherman San Anselmo, California - April 17, 2005 I would like for us for the rest of this day to forget every other spiritual idea. I think maybe these intensives ought to be called "working intensives," because what we are here for is to work, to spend this day, to devote this day to find out if there is any truth to what Ramana suggests. The feelings and http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/what-we-are-here-for.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113600559890077970Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:06:00 +00002008-06-26T14:12:46.042-07:00Adapted from A Meeting with John Sherman San Anselmo, California - April 17, 2005 Ramana Maharshi says that the only thing standing between you and self-realization is the belief that you are not already fully realized. This is a truly radical, outrageous, incomprehensible suggestion. It lays to rest all the ideas about what I have to do with myself in order to find truth. All the ideas about http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/find-out-truth.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113600553571815716Sat, 31 Dec 2005 05:04:00 +00002008-06-26T14:16:12.582-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Fairfax, California - October 23, 2004 Whether in the material realm or in the spiritual realm, or any other realm, the subject of conversation in life seems to be "How do I get what I want?" That's okay, I guess, except that it seems like a more useful topic would be "What do I want?" And it seems to me, for most of our lives, we have skipped over that http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/find-out-for-yourself_30.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113599714014018345Sat, 31 Dec 2005 02:45:00 +00002008-06-26T14:16:32.154-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Santa Barbara, California - August 21, 2004 For thousands of years, sages have told us that reality is not what we think it is; that the world is not what we think it is, and that our experiences of pleasure and pain are not what we think they are. And, most fundamentally, that we are not what we think we are. They have told us that this misunderstanding http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/finding-truth-of-who-you-are.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113599671890035757Sat, 31 Dec 2005 02:38:00 +00002008-06-26T14:17:00.388-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Ojai, California - March 9, 2004 I learned of a location where the people are now trying to form a kind of a farmers market of satsang teachings; where they say, "We have decided to put this together, so that we don't have to travel to go see the teacher; so that we don't have to be troubled by the difficulty of going a hundred miles, or five hundred http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/seriousness-of-your-intention.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20284925.post-113599665218880693Sat, 31 Dec 2005 02:36:00 +00002008-06-26T14:17:25.922-07:00Adapted from a Meeting with John Sherman Carlsbad, California - November 1, 2003 Gangaji has said, more than once, that the only prerequisite to really being finished is maturity. And maturity being such a heavily ladened word in our culture, it carries a lot of the sense of judgment and value; and therefore "immaturity" is an insult. Maturity is a mark of wisdom, of age and so forth. But http://www.riverganga.org/Excerpts/2005/12/maturity-and-discernment_30.htmljohnsherman@riverganga.org (John)