I seem to have an iron grasp on some images and it is hard to let go. This could be an image of any sort, any thing that arises from my imagination and is not truly connected to the real world.
Sometimes the image is in the form of a concept that is ready to shape my thoughts. Other times it an image that I impose on a real scene or object that I observe; I see it as it “ought” to be. It can be a person whom I imagine to be someone other than they really are. Sometimes the imagined person is less than they actually are, and often the image is greater, especially if they are someone I really like.
It is possible for me to love the image of someone and confuse that with loving them. This is the way of grasping. The object of desire is not the real person but the image I have of them. Letting go of my imagined person can be more difficult than any attachment to a real person.
I practice seeing people as they really are, nothing more and nothing less. I want to see them as independent and separate beings. What links us is a real awareness and not something conjured up by my active imagination.
This is not always easy. But how freeing it is to let go of the facsimile and open awareness to the person before me.