Summary
Letting Go by David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD, stands out in the field of personal development for integrating practical techniques with a spiritual focus on surrender as a means to overcoming obstacles to happiness, love, and success. Drawing on his decades of practice as a clinical psychiatrist, Dr. Hawkins offers a simple yet effective, step-by-step method for releasing negativity and removing inner blocks to achievement and fulfillment in various aspects of life, from career to relationships to emotional healing. Published in 2012, Letting Go has become a valuable resource for individuals seeking personal growth and enlightenment as well as a go-to guide for professionals in mental health, psychology, medicine, and addiction recovery.
Plot
Letting Go presents a comprehensive and accessible approach to releasing negativity and achieving success and enlightenment. The book introduces the concept of surrender as a mechanism for overcoming obstacles to personal growth and happiness. Dr. David Hawkins developed the book’s groundbreaking techniques over his decades of practice as a clinical psychiatric and commitment as a spiritual teacher, aiming to find effective ways to alleviate human suffering in all its forms.
Providing readers with a step-by-step guide to implementing the surrender mechanism in their daily lives, Letting Go covers various aspects of human experience, including physical health, creativity, financial success, emotional healing, relationships, and spiritual development. Dr. Hawkins emphasizes that this technique can be practiced amid the challenges of everyday life, making it accessible to a wide audience.
Letting Go builds upon Dr. Hawkins's previous works, which focused on advanced states of awareness and enlightenment. This book, however, responds to requests from his students for a practical method to remove inner blocks to personal fulfillment. The author presents the surrender mechanism as a powerful tool for achieving this goal. Beyond its appeal to general readers, the book is designed to be a valuable resource for professionals working in mental health, psychology, medicine, self-help, addiction recovery, and spiritual development.
Themes
Surrender and letting go of negativity
Inner mechanisms for enlightenment
Practical techniques for removing inner blocks to achievement and fulfillment
Holistic approach to personal growth
Application of personal growth principles in various aspects of everyday life
Interconnectedness of mental, emotional, and spiritual health
Setting
Set primarily in the 1950s, Letting Go by David R. Hawkins unfolds against the backdrop of post-war America. Along with economic prosperity, suburban expansion, and social conformity, this era was characterized by underlying tensions and the seeds of cultural change that would blossom in the following decade.
As the book draws on Dr. Hawkins’s decades of experience as a clinical psychiatrist, the setting encompasses various urban and suburban areas across the United States where he practiced and conducted research. However, the “setting” of Letting Go extends beyond physical locations to include the internal landscapes of human consciousness and emotion. Hawkins explores the universal human experiences of suffering, negativity, and the quest for enlightenment, creating a timeless and borderless psychological setting that resonates with readers across different eras and cultures.
Key Figures
Dr. David R. Hawkins: The author and narrator, a psychiatrist and spiritual teacher who developed the technique of “letting go” based on his clinical practice. He shares his insights and methods throughout the book, drawing on decades of experience helping patients overcome negativity and achieve greater levels of consciousness.
Patients/Students: While not naming them individually, Dr. Hawkins refers to the many patients and students he has worked with over the years. Their experiences and challenges inform the practical advice and examples given in the book.
Quick facts
Dr. David Hawkins dedicated more than 50 years to researching and developing the techniques described in Letting Go.
Letting Go draws on Dr. Hawkins's experience as both a psychiatrist and a spiritual teacher.
Dr. Hawkins claims that the technique described in the book can be applied to all areas of life, from health to relationships to spiritual growth.
Letting Go is considered by many to be Dr. Hawkins's most practical and accessible work.
The book introduces the “Mechanism of Letting Go,” a technique for releasing negative emotions and attachments.
Dr. Hawkins relates the process of letting go to the concept of surrendering in various spiritual traditions.
Letting Go includes a “Map of Consciousness,” which outlines different levels of human awareness.
Letting Go was published in 2012, just a few months before Dr. Hawkins passed away at age 85.
The audiobook version is narrated by Peter Lownds, a longtime student of Dr. Hawkins.
Letting Go has been translated into over 25 languages.
About the Author
David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD, was a renowned psychiatrist, physician, researcher, and spiritual teacher. After achieving success as a medical doctor, Hawkins experienced a profound spiritual awakening that led him to devote his life to exploring consciousness and spiritual growth. His work bridges the gap between scientific understanding and spiritual wisdom, offering a path to enlightenment grounded in empirical research.
Hawkins is perhaps best known for developing the “Map of Consciousness,” a scale that measures the vibrational frequency of human consciousness from 1 to 1000. This groundbreaking work, detailed in his book Power vs. Force, provides a framework for understanding spiritual evolution and the levels of human awareness. Hawkins posited that emotions like fear and anger calibrate at lower levels, while love, joy and peace resonate at higher frequencies that have a beneficial effect on the world.
As a lecturer and author, Hawkins shared his insights through numerous books, seminars and public talks. His teachings emphasized core truths found across spiritual traditions, such as compassion, humility, forgiveness and surrender to the Divine. Hawkins established the “Pathway of Devotional Nonduality” as a direct route to enlightenment, outlining practices to transcend the ego and realize one's true nature. His later works provided detailed maps of the highest states of consciousness rarely articulated in modern spiritual literature. His most accessible work, Letting Go was published in 2012, just a few months before he passed away at age 85.
Dr. Hawkins left behind a profound legacy as a pioneer in the field of consciousness research. His unique blend of scientific rigor and mystical insight continues to influence seekers worldwide. Advocates credit his work with accelerating spiritual growth and offering a rational basis for faith. While some critics question his methods, Hawkins remains widely regarded as an important figure who helped bridge Eastern and Western approaches to enlightenment.
