“Letting Go” by David R. Hawkins: A Critical and Constructive Reading

In the vast landscape of spiritual and self-help literature, few books have reached the cult-like following of Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David R. Hawkins.

Promising emotional liberation and access to higher states of consciousness, the book lays out a deceptively simple technique: surrender your emotions.

But does it hold up to serious scrutiny? And how does it compare with more grounded psychological and spiritual traditions?

One of the many books by Hawkins with this cover style

As a longtime reader of books about non-dogmatic spirituality, as well as practitioner of Taoist and Buddhist techniques, I approached Letting Go with both curiosity and caution.

Here’s a synthesis of the book’s most useful practices, the points where it overlaps with established wisdom traditions, and where it veers into dubious territory.

The Practical Technique: Letting Go in Action

At the heart of the book is a simple process:

Become aware of what you’re feeling.
Don’t judge, suppress, or try to change the emotion.
Let it be there, feel it fully, and surrender the need to fix it.
Ignore the thoughts and stories; stay with the raw energy.
Let the feeling dissolve naturally, without resistance.

This technique, when practiced consistently, can lead to a real sense of lightness and clarity. It resonates with practices in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), somatic experiencing, and mindfulness-based traditions.

Hawkins also offers thematic applications: in relationships (drop the need to be right), in health (stop resisting pain), in work (release anxiety about results), and in spirituality (surrender even your desire for enlightenment).

Where Hawkins Aligns with Other Traditions

Letting Go shares significant overlap with:

Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and Theravāda mindfulness: observing sensations and emotions with equanimity.
Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield: especially their focus on radical acceptance, compassion, and somatic integration.
Joseph Goldstein’s pragmatic insight meditation: staying with the felt experience without clinging or aversion.
Stoicism: particularly in the letting go of control and focusing on what is within one’s power.

It also parallels teachings by Eckhart Tolle on disidentifying from the “pain body” and finding freedom through presence.

Where Hawkins Slips: Pseudoscience and Absolutism

Despite the value of the central technique, the book is marred by several troubling elements:

The “Map of Consciousness”: A 0-1000 scale of emotional and spiritual states, which lacks any empirical grounding.
Kinesiological muscle testing: Used to determine the “truth” of statements, this method has been widely debunked.
Overgeneralizations: Hawkins often claims that all problems come from not letting go, minimizing trauma, social context, or developmental factors.
Authoritarian tone: Rather than encouraging exploration, Hawkins often speaks with dogmatic certainty.

These elements stand in stark contrast to the humility and falsifiability found in Buddhist epistemology and modern psychology.

What to Keep, What to Question

Keep:

The practice of feeling emotions fully and releasing the resistance.
The focus on non-attachment, without apathy.
The reminder that surrender isn’t defeat, but openness.

Question:

Claims of objective truth being “measurable” via muscle tests.
Any implication that hierarchy of emotions makes some people spiritually superior.
The idea that a single technique can substitute for relational, developmental, or trauma-informed work.

Personal Integration: How I Use It

As someone who strives daily to work with attention, presence, and meaning, I’ve found Letting Go to be most useful when read through a critical and comparative lens.

I don’t follow the energetic calibration maps or treat the book as dogma. But I do return to the practice of surrender when emotions grip the body-mind, especially in parenting, creative work, and meditation.

If you’re already practicing mindful awareness (like through Satipaṭṭhāna or the work of Tara Brach), Letting Go can serve as a complementary tool — not a replacement, but a lens to deepen certain aspects of emotional release.

Applying Letting Go to Daily Life: Personal and Professional Challenges

How can this practice actually help when facing difficult conversations, overwhelming responsibilities, or creative blocks?

Here are a few practical examples:

Parenting: When your child’s behavior triggers irritation or helplessness, pause and feel the emotion in your body without acting on it. Let go of the urge to control, and instead respond from a calmer presence.
Creative Work: When stuck in perfectionism or self-doubt, try releasing the need for the result to be good. Let the feeling of inadequacy come and go. Often, what’s blocking flow is emotional tension, not lack of skill.
Business and Leadership: Before an important decision or negotiation, notice anxiety or desire to “win.” Surrender the emotional charge behind the outcome, and act from clarity rather than reactivity.
Conflicts and Relationships: Instead of defending your position, try releasing the emotional need to be right. This doesn’t mean agreeing, but disarming the inner fight. Often, truth emerges more clearly in a space of inner neutrality.
Overload and Burnout: When the to-do list feels overwhelming, pause and ask: “What am I resisting right now?” Let that sensation move through you. Often, surrendering to the moment creates new energy and perspective.

In short, the practice is not about withdrawal. It’s about acting from a clearer, less reactive place — and this can radically improve both inner and outer outcomes.

In Summary

Letting Go offers a powerful emotional technique wrapped in a mix of insight and questionable claims. Used with discernment, it can be a helpful ally. But it’s not a shortcut to awakening, nor a substitute for rigorous practice or compassionate inquiry.

Take what works. Leave what doesn’t. And above all, stay awake.

Further Reading on OcchiPerVedere.com