FAMILY STORIES ON FREE SOUL STATE

#1. Free Soul State-Story from Grandpa Sherm

My Grandpa Sherm was my spiritual advisor and the first person who taught me about meditation and mindfulness. He was a lifelong Zen Buddhist and was active at the local Zen Buddhism Center in the Twin Cities. Once while visiting my Grandparents I asked my Grandfather what was his most intense experience while meditating. Grandpa said that they were doing a weekend retreat at the Buddhism Center, and they were told to go out in the grounds of the center to find a solitary place in nature to meditate. He said that there was a beautiful forest on the grounds there and he found a spot at the edge of a forest next to water, alongside the river. Grandpa told me that when he reached the zenith of his meditation, he felt his father, holding him in his lap and rocking him gently. Grandpa said that it was so profound because his father had died when he was only 5 years old, and that he had completely forgotten the sensation of being held and rocked as a child. He also told me that when he ended the meditation, he found salty tears on his cheek, he had cried out of grief and love for his father.