Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Tuning In
Relax the body, still the surface chatter of the mind, pose a clear question, and then listen quietly for an intuitive impression or hunch before deciding.
Relax body and mind first.
- Let the surface chatter go quiet.
- Pose one clear question, then stop asking.
- Listen receptively; note whatever rises.
- Write it down — then verify before you act.
What it is
Sherman’s receptive practice, the counterpart to his active picturing: instead of projecting a goal, you quiet the mind and listen. You relax body and mind, pose a clear question, then hold a calm, receptive stillness and notice whatever intuitive impression, hunch, or “feeling” rises.
Sherman framed this as “tuning in” — the mind as a receiver that can pick up guidance when the surface static of worry and busy thinking dies down. His stronger claim, that what is received can include genuine extrasensory or telepathic information, is the contested part; the calm-and-listen core stands on its own as a sound way to let quieter, slower judgment surface.
The Method
- Relax fully. Sit or lie down and let body and mind settle. Sherman puts relaxation first — the static can’t drop while you’re tense.
- Still the surface mind. Let the busy, anxious chatter quiet down so you’re calm and receptive rather than straining.
- Pose one clear question or hold the matter you want guidance on — definite, single, not a tangle of worries.
- Then stop and listen. Drop the asking and wait receptively. Notice whatever impression, image, hunch, or feeling arises, without forcing or judging it.
- Record it, then test it. Write the impression down before it fades — and treat it as a lead to verify, not a verdict to obey. (Sourcing note: relax → still the mind → ask → receive is the structure across Sherman’s ESP/intuition writing; “tuning in” / mind-as-receiver is his framing. Short paraphrase, fair-use reference.)
Source & Lineage
How to Make ESP Work for You (1964), with related material in Your Mysterious Powers of ESP (1969) and the picturing-and-receiving frame of TNT: The Power Within You (1954). The method grew out of Sherman’s 1937-38 long-distance “thought impression” experiment with Arctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins, where each man relaxed nightly and recorded impressions.
Lineage: New Thought “entering the silence” crossed with mid-century parapsychology.
Common refinements
Straining to “get” something. Effortful reaching produces noise, not signal. The instruction is to relax and let it come.
- Taking the first impression as truth. Impressions are hypotheses. Note them, then check them against facts and outcomes over time.
- Asking a tangle. Multiple anxious questions muddy the field. Pose one clear question per sitting.
- Confusing wish with guidance. A “hunch” that happens to be exactly what you wanted is suspect; calibrate by tracking how often your impressions actually pan out.