Read time 3 minutes. Letting Go of Illusion is a stand alone article within our letting go series.
Sometimes I dream something bleak. A tragedy. A loss. A situation I don’t want to deal with. Then I realize—oh, I’m dreaming. And in that moment, everything lifts. Relief rushes in. The burden vanishes.
Letting go of illusion feels a lot like that.
Stay with what is real
Of course, it’s not quite so easy when we’re awake. Waking life feels heavier, more convincing. Our problems seem real. Our thoughts seem useful. Obsessing can feel like action. Overthinking feels like responsibility.
But in time, we begin to see the cost.
I am reminded of this quote by Charlotte Joko Beck, “I am more and more aware that my thinking isn’t real, and I’m much more interested in staying with what is real.”
I used to believe that worrying was the way through. Now I know—letting go is easier than holding on. It feels right. But that kind of ease doesn’t come from passivity. It comes from persistence, from a willingness to let go not once, but again and again. Even when it feels like nothing is changing.
Letting go of illusion isn’t a technique—it’s a gesture, a glance toward the underlying tension beneath all thought. Not to analyze it. Just to see it. And in that split second of seeing, it dissolves.
Let it all go
We tend to reserve this gesture for negative states. But illusion doesn’t come in just one flavor. Pleasant daydreams, flattery, the internal highlight reel—they’re illusions too. We don’t reject them—we just stop clinging.
Mind activity is mind activity. If we want presence, we let it all go.
This isn’t repression. It’s not detachment. It’s freedom. The kind that comes not from bypassing discomfort, but from relaxing the hand before it ever forms a fist.
Letting go of illusion requires commitment and faith
As Charlotte Joko Beck said:
“Only a very few who are enormously persistent and who take everything in life as an opportunity, and not an insult, will finally understand.”
Take a second look at this quote and read it carefully. It’s all there. Lasting peace is not just going to appear in our lives because we desire it. It takes a special sort of commitment that we must be willing to prioritize.
Letting go of illusion requires faith. Not faith in an outcome—faith in the gesture itself. The discipline to glance inward. The courage to keep showing up. Not for answers, but for peace.
Consider this quote from Beck as well. “When we maintain awareness, whether we know it or not, healing is taking place.”
Oftentimes our practice seems totally unrelated to the things we are trying to address. We must have faith in the practice, especially when we feel as if we are not getting to where we want to go. The willingness to persist, even when we are not seeing results, is all a part of the practice.
Explore more:
Meet the founder of Zen Buddhism and enjoy some Zen history along the way. This article from Lion’s Roar on the legend of Bodhidharma is a fun and insightful read.
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Photo by Angie Fritz
🌀 From the GZM Archives – Polished, Preserved, Still Relevant.
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