Just One Look Forum Archives

I think I'm on some kind of accelerated version of JOL! I started around a week ago and everything indicates that I'm already in recovery. As I said in my introductory post (My Story, under Looking), I have a chronic disease, so what happened a few days after I did the looking and then was doing the SDA exercise regularly is that my condition grew much worse, to the point where it was hard to do the things I need to do to take care of myself. There was a lot of fear, so every time I felt fearful, I did SDA, and it helped. After a couple of days I had a day where I felt much better. It was such a big change that I knew it was because of the work. Then I had a little relapse, but just kept on doing the work. I'm convinced that this is true and real, and that all of this stuff is coming up now but will eventually fade away. I'm acutely aware that all my physical problems are rooted in fear, because I have been very fearful from infancy. This is the first time I've ever found a way to deal with the fear. The SDA is very powerful. I'm wondering if anyone here has had an experience similar to mine, with things moving along so quickly. From what I've heard John say, it usually takes a lot longer. But then again, these concepts aren't foreign to me, since I've spent decades with spiritual studies and self-reflection.

Hey JR, that's great to hear! You didn't go into these details as specifically in our last email. Very happy to hear this. As I was saying, I do the SDA practice several times a day (at least) and I feel this is absolutely necessary for me, for both physical and emotional reasons. As you know, I've had a good amount of mystical experiences and have zero fear of crossing over, but I have loved ones to consider that I would never want to hurt by having them think I am suffering, etc. So I am 'sticking it out' right now doing this. I don't know if I am getting as quick as results as you, but I definitely feel it working more and more. Hey, just the fact that I'm still on this plane writing this posting is a good sign right?;-) I'm going to shoot you an email reply..

According to John the disease is actually immediately and fully cured by a single look at you and it seems like you see that for yourself! I too have found a clear relationship between the effort I put into SDA practice and how my life unfurls, especially when the going gets tough, that's when it counts the most. One thing which has been useful to me, and I recommend you look into to it too if you haven't already, is to have an as thorough as possible understanding of what the fear of life really is, how it has shaped the remaining fearful content of your mind. A quote that stuck with me was when he said something along the lines of "understanding the fear of life is like seeing that the earth is round; before we can see it for ourselves we must get some distance away from it". The fastest way we know to do that is definitely SDA practice. But to complement it maybe check out John's articles or read some testimonials and stories from the forums, all that stuff has helped me in noticing when I'm doing something out of fear rather than sanity. And it's just a great journey to take on during recovery, one that I've gotten a lot of satisfaction from (even though I must admit that at times it's been like a witch hunt after the fear, and that's not the point, that is in itself fearful). See, these things are sneaky as heck! Anyways, great to hear you are doing so good, mentally and physically! Stick with it, pay attention, and no matter what comes you are still here

Yeah, sorry about leaving out the details...guess I wasn't thinking about them at the time.

And yes, it's a very good sign that you're still here on this plane and posting!

Hey, roed. Yes, I think something definitely happened after my first look at me"¦and now with the SDA practice I have this (very nice) feeling that everything is taking care of itself, and all I need to do is continue to practice. I have gotten helpful insights during this brief period, and also a lessening of fear, as I mentioned. Since my physical situation is pretty severe, I haven't had complete relief yet, but I know it's coming, because my thoughts/feelings/emotions have changed so much since I started SDA.

The "why" of the fear of life has become clearer to me since I started this work. I knew even before I ever heard of John that I was afraid of life, and that's why I got sick and ended up housebound. The only problem was, I couldn't find a solution, even with all the spiritual studies I've done over the years. What I love about John's approach is that he gives you something to do, so you're not floundering around trying to figure out what to do! It's practical, not difficult, and, at least for me, it's also enjoyable.

My friend Lex (above) will get a laugh out of your suggesting that I read John's articles, testimonials, forum posts, etc. He knows what a fanatic I am! I've already read tons of his stuff, and am now rereading his book.

As for the "witch hunt" with the fear, I've never had to do that because it's always been so "in my face." I guess you could say that my middle name has been "Fear," but now not so much!

Thanks for sharing these insights Roed. Like jr, I, too, have read much of John's stuff now and listened to many of the yt's and podcasts. My experience is a little difference than JR's. I did the looking when I first read John's book - and it kept coming back, and still does sometimes. The whole childhood memory thing and all that is something I had done a lot studying various teachings of nonduality. As I was writing to JR, because we both have a lot of familiarity with nonduality, this teaching was not in any way surprising or shocking to us. To me, it seems like a 'missing link' of sorts. So, with the looking, I felt like I got a good sense of it..but I didn't experience that peace and satisfaction that John talks about in any big way that is supposed to last for up to 2 months (I'm referring to conversation 5 on yt where John talks about this). Because of this, I certainly don't want to say any suffering I am currently experiencing is because of the looking I did - I mean, I'm certainly not gonna take ownership of the 'bad stuff' if I don't even get the 'good stuff'!;-) What I do experience I get sometimes after doing the SDA and the real potential of it. I could see how it could prolong the body/mind of Lex (like, you know, the human me that you would see if you met me). It just makes so much sense to me the way John is laying it out. Perhaps you can elaborate on any specifics you would care to share about the SDA practice and how it's effected your life. I read something good by you the other day how you were saying you are much better able to handle change. I do believe it is human nature to get stressed out over big changes in one's life - say moving somewhere new.. a breakup in a relationship.. a death of a loved one, etc.

As far as the fear goes - This is very interesting. I guess I always assumed that most everyone I knew had the same fear that I did - which is the fear of suffering. It will be interesting to see what other insights I gain into fears I may have as I continue the SDA practice and gain more distance from that fearful content of my mind. Maybe I will be surprised by some totally new revelations.

Although I don't agree with John's view that the human race is going to destroy itself soon (I believe it's actually we, as a human race, are more evolved at this time than at any other and it's just technology that makes it seem otherwise..well I've written about that in other posts). But what I am really curious about is John speaking about how much he loves human life. It's like he holds a sacredness for human life. And this is something that that healer guy I studied with, who healed so many, also talked about quite a lot. Don't get me wrong, I believe that life is sacred, but I believe not suffering is more sacred than life. John Sherman, the healer guy I studied with, and a couple of other healer types I really respect (because they got concrete, verifiable 'miraculous' results) seem to have a view of human life as being so ultimately precious and wonderful. And if they could heal all these people, and if John had these great insights into what I consider to be the 'next step' in..well let's call it 'Experiential Nondual Realization' to be fancy and sexy;-) Then I feel like I must be missing something. Don't get me wrong here: I certainly don't go around with a 'life sucks' attitude..I'm definitely an optimist..ask my friends! I am always looking for the good, the love, and trying to cultivate what, to me, is the good and positive in life, BUT I don't have the outlook (yet?) of John Sherman and the others I mentioned with how extremely good and wonderful this human life is. All the best, Lex

Your voice totally chimes of relief, and it's so wonderful to hear it! And I totally relate to being fanatic, for the first year or so I would spend an hour a day (at least...) watching videos of John, reading forums and articles, etc. I think part of why it feels so good is because out of nowhere comes this one place which isn't contaminated with fear, and because it, just as you say, give us something real we can do!

After 5 and 1/2 years, I think the best way I can sum up the looking and its effects is to quote many others......"it's not what I thought it would be." It's not bliss or "enlightenment" (in whatever form that takes in ones mind) it's something other. Sometimes ineffable, yet deeply tangible. You have the exact same life, but it is deeply altered. At first you really want to heal, physically and emotionally, and you look for signs everywhere, then it doesn't matter and you become familiar and easy with your quirky hurting life, then......you heal. The healing is not some triumphant release, it's just easy and natural simply because you stopped being obsessed with what's wrong. It happens on its own time and you begin to trust this. That laser-like focus, attenuated by fear, on what is wrong shifts and diffuses to a broader field, your life. What is right and true.

Excellent comment Jackx.. Thanks so much for posting this. This makes a lot of sense as to how things would happen. Best, Lex

Thanks, Jackx! this is exactly my view about healing...if you're going after it, in the sense of trying to fix something or hoping something will magically change, it doesn't happen. All of these "added things" (as Jesus called them) occur naturally when we "seek the kingdom first." The way I see it, it's fear that keeps us attached to the "I need this to happen" mindset.

Simply beautiful Jackx, thank you!

Right on JR..This outlook is what I've observed in most all healing modalities that, at least sometimes, would get effective results. There's a lot of truth in that one line about seeking the kingdom first and all things being added on!

"Ineffable, yet deeply tangible", my thoughts exactly, Jackx. It's the most curious thing, and feeds both doubt and certainty in me.

Thumbs up to Jesus, too, except we don't need to seek the Kingdom anymore, we are in it already. I think those Christians got it right in the sense the whole thing is quite easy to solve, or has been solved already. Death ( fear ) has been conquered. It never had any basis. And then you're reborn ( recovery ). It's interesting how the Christian belief comes to make new sense after this, as a somewhat clumsy attempt to grasp what's going on. And many other teachings besides.

Spiritual, and even religious teachings, a fair amount of time, get to the heart of the matter, it's just seems like there's so much bull excrement to wade through sometimes, it's hard to find it!:-O

LOL! But its there, once you wade through the muck!

It really is beautiful Jackx. Congruent with some other teachings I've heard and respected and it just intuitively feels correct to me. Thanks!

As I got more into advaitic/nondual types of teaching, it gave me the freedom to investigate into what I considered to be the good and positive aspects of certain organized religions. I even 'fell out' in the spirit (and believe me I really tried not to! 'What bunk!' I thought and the joke was on me;-) And I've also had spontaneous glossolalia (christians call it 'speaking in tongues', but it's been around much longer than christianity) for a whole month after meeting Tommy Welchel and having him pray over me. He is the last living link to the Asuza St. Revival which happened in CA in the very early 1900's. It's the only time I'm aware of where there were spontaneous full limb regenerations that happened in front of numerous eyewitnesses who were then able to later recount it. If you want to read about some amazing healings of limbs and noses teeth eyeballs, etc being regenerated, check out his book 'Miracles Form Asuza St and Beyond'. I get so happy everytime I read it and meeting Tommy for me was like I guess a teenybopper meeting a rockstar or a moviestar... hahaha!! Hey, I wonder can I post a pic here? Let me try attachments. Me and Tommy from upstate NY-----if it comes out.. Oh shoot, it says I'm not authorized to put attachments...Maybe one day if I get more clout!;-)

The problem is JR, is that I've lost all my money on continually buying new wading boots. I'm actually in debt to the tune of about $757,000 to wading boot companies throughout the world. Cha!