Let Go, and Be Found

This is a transcript of an Early Morning Light talk given at One River Zen. Why get them second-hand? Join us for meditation from 6:30 to 7:15 AM CST, Monday through Friday, and hear these talks in real time. Start your day immersed in wisdom and community as we sit together and explore the path of practice.

We have a deeply ingrained habit—this tendency to know, to expect—and it sneaks into our practice. It’s subtle, but it closes us off from fully appreciating our lived experience as it is. If you’re going to practice, you have to reach the solid ground of believing in nothing. This doesn’t mean falling into nihilism—it means stepping into a space of not knowing, of letting go of beliefs, and approaching everything from a place of wonder.

When you do, you start to see the splendor in each moment of your life, even in the beauty of the mundane. And then something powerful happens—you find that you are believed. Your lived experience opens to you in a whole new way. You bear witness to your true nature, not by searching for it, but by allowing it to reveal itself.

So begin by letting go. Release what you think you know. Approach your life from a state of wonder, and don’t think, “I’ll recognize enlightenment when I see it.” Let go of what you think enlightenment looks like, and it will find you.