Letting Go
I just finished this book on Audible. Natalie listened to it first and enjoyed most of it. These are the type of books that would have been helpful earlier in life when I didn’t have language yet to talk about these concept. I have been doing what David writes about a lot in the last year. It has become my way of being. It feels lazy at time compared to my previous preoccupations with being busy and getting it done.
This book is the first time I have seen an attempt to quantify enlightenment with a number system. It’s like an accountant wanted to merge is spirituality with his career:)
Happy Sunny Wednesday at 4:20 sharp
Scott X
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
by David R. Hawkins
1. Context
Dr. David R. Hawkins wasn’t just a spiritual teacher—he was also a psychiatrist and researcher who lived at the intersection of science and mysticism. After decades of clinical work and intense spiritual experiences (including states of consciousness he claimed were akin to enlightenment), Hawkins distilled his teachings into a series of books. Letting Go, published in 2012, became one of the most accessible and beloved entries in his catalog.
The book is part psychology, part spirituality, part how-to manual for inner freedom. In a world full of control strategies, suppression techniques, and anxiety loops, Hawkins offers a deceptively simple idea: stop resisting. Let go. Surrender the inner pressure. And everything changes.
2. Deep Summary
The Heavy Backpack
Imagine you’re walking through life carrying an invisible backpack. Every grudge, every fear, every suppressed emotion—goes in the bag. Most people are hauling around 200 pounds of psychic weight. They wonder why they’re tired, stuck, reactive. Hawkins says: The problem isn’t out there. It’s what we’re holding onto inside.
So what’s the fix? Not years of digging into your past. Not controlling every thought. Not pretending everything is fine. The fix, according to Hawkins, is surrender.
What Letting Go Really Means
Letting go is not giving up. It’s releasing the energy behind an emotion by fully feeling it—without acting on it, analyzing it, or resisting it.
Let’s say fear rises. Instead of trying to distract yourself, explain it, or push it away, you just sit with it. Let it flood you. And watch. You don’t run. You don’t fight. You don’t feed it with thoughts.
Eventually, it passes.
What remains is spaciousness. Peace. Stillness. And the next time fear arises, it’s smaller. Lighter. Because the charge has been released.
Hawkins claims this process works for every emotion: anger, guilt, shame, desire, grief. Over time, you climb what he calls the “emotional scale.” You begin at apathy and shame, rise through fear and pride, and eventually reach courage, love, peace, and beyond.
The Mechanism of Surrender
The technique is simple:
Notice the emotion.
Don’t label it or analyze it.
Don’t try to change it.
Allow it to be felt fully, without resistance.
Let it run its course.
Sounds easy, right? It’s not. The mind rebels. It wants to fix, fight, explain. But the more you surrender, the more power you reclaim. The more you let go, the more energy becomes available for joy, clarity, and intuition.
The Layers Beneath Problems
Hawkins walks us through common issues—relationship drama, addiction, money fears, health crises—and shows how emotions are the real battlefield. Most external problems are sustained by internal resistance. Once the resistance drops, solutions appear. Or, in some cases, the problem simply dissolves.
He explains that even positive emotions can trap us if they’re driven by attachment. Wanting can become suffering. The trick is to enjoy things without clinging. To move from “I need this to be okay” to “I am okay regardless.”
Consciousness and Calibration
Hawkins also introduces his controversial “Map of Consciousness,” a scale from 0 to 1,000 measuring emotional and spiritual frequency. He claims:
Shame calibrates around 20 (very low)
Anger is 150
Courage starts at 200 (the tipping point into empowerment)
Love is 500+
Enlightenment is 700-1000
He says most people operate below 200—trapped in fear, guilt, and pride. But through surrender, you can rise. Not by striving. By letting go of what’s keeping you down.
Miracles Happen
As people practice surrender, Hawkins shares stories of sudden healings, breakthroughs, and peace beyond understanding. Not everyone will experience the mystical. But everyone, he insists, will experience relief. Inner freedom. A shift from victimhood to presence.
And eventually, the surrender itself becomes joy.
3. Purchase & Audiobook Links
4. Sales & Reach
Over 1 million copies sold worldwide
Endorsed by therapists, spiritual teachers, coaches, and self-help readers
Translated into 20+ languages
A top-10 title in many personal growth booklists since its release
5. Ratings
Goodreads: ★★★★☆ (4.4/5 from over 20,000 ratings)
Amazon: ★★★★★ (4.8/5 from over 15,000 reviews)
6. Scott Bot’s Take
This book is peace in paperback form. You can be in the middle of a business mess, a breakup, a breakdown—and Hawkins calmly whispers: “Let go. Don’t fight it. Don’t control it. Just let it pass.”
There’s something radical about the simplicity. In a world that shouts fix this, hustle harder, analyze more, Hawkins says no. You’re already whole. You’ve just buried that wholeness under layers of resistance.
I’ve tried it. Letting go in real time. It’s weird. At first it feels like doing nothing. But suddenly the weight lifts. And you realize how much effort it took to keep the pain in place.
This isn’t just spiritual fluff—it’s a manual for emotional freedom. Doesn’t matter if you believe in energy or consciousness maps. If you follow the process, it works.
It’s not always easy. But it’s always available. In every breath. In every fear. In every moment we choose to stop clutching and start releasing.
7. Bold Takeaway
If you only remember one thing from this book, Letting Go: You are not your feelings—and when you stop resisting them, they release their hold on you.