21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S

gossip? The need to control others? The need to offer explanations about ourselves? Let go of the need to ask others to explain themselves? Let go of our fear. Let go even of our good intentions. Let go even of the desire for a better world. Does that all seem like a big ask? I just invite the reader to consider how much it costs in stress and depression to hang onto all those negative thoughts. Even obsessing over our work — even if it is very valuable work — carries a heavy toll. Our lives are enriched by allowing them to be incomplete (Alistair MacIntyre).

How is letting go achieved? Well, simply spending some time thinking over the bad things that have happened, but without looking for solutions. This not looking for solutions is the ‘letting go’ part — it is to ‘think the hurt’ without trying to analyse it or solve it. The problems are brought to mind, but then there is a decision not to dwell on them. (The ultimate letting go book is called, rather predictably, Letting Go, by David Hawkins. See also, David Bohm’s, On Dialogue.)

If the meditative type of letting go seems difficult, it can be noted that the term is often used to mean a more literal letting go (or it may be called ‘letting out’). This might be through humour, dance, play, music, sport — all activities, it seems to me, that can be a lot more accessible than the quieter, contemplative approach. To see the world through the eyes of humour, art and music could be the way to realise changes in our lives without actually having to strive to bring about the change.

Note that no efforts are made towards ‘curing’

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