Comfortable Not Knowing | Eckhart Tolle

If somebody. You can go up to somebody and say, do you know who you are? If they say yes, that probably means they don't. Because they only know that which they can name conceptually, and they think that's it. But if they say no, but you have to listen to see what kind of no that is, whether it's a no that comes. That is a no that says, I don't know, but I really should know. No, I don't. I have no idea. But if there is another no, which is the no of the Zen master who says, I have no idea who I am. And then he says, do you know who you are? No. And this is the most wonderful thing to find that place in yourself that you cannot really know conceptually. There's nothing really you can say about it. One could try and say it's very still, but it's limited too. And that is, that's the place of where you really know who you are. Non conceptually, but from the level of concept, from the perspective of concepts, you don't know who you are anymore. So you become comfortable. On one level, you know who you are. Obviously you have a name and a past and a history and relationships and a work situation, into home situation, into health situation. On that level, of course, you know who you are. But on the deeper level, you have to become comfortable with not knowing who you are. And only then can you access the deeper level of who you are. If you are uncomfortable with not knowing who you are, you will immediately jump out of that stillness and take refuge in the mind and start thinking about your life again. I must remember who I am. Some people have a fear of going to that place of not knowing who they are. That place of not knowing who they are, by the way, also includes when you're very deeply in that. Then you also don't know who other people are conceptually. And you become comfortable not continuously. There may be a time and a place for knowing people conceptually, but you can never relate deeply to another person. If the dimension of depth is missing. And all you are relating with is on the dimension of mental judgments of the other person. So then you don't know them. So you become comfortable with not knowing who you are. And that includes not knowing who another person is and being comfortable with meeting a person and having no judgments in your mind, no conceptual thoughts about who or what kind of a person that is. And sometimes you can sense things about that person without anything formulating in your mind. And there you can connect on that deeper level. So becoming comfortable with not knowing, just like as I said before Socrates, the very foundation for all his teachings is he has no idea. To start with the starting point for. And Socrates, a great philosopher, the starting point for his philosophy. As he himself said, I am the wisest of all men because I am the only one who knows that. He knows nothing. What that really means is he is comfortable with a place of not knowing anything. And that place arises in the moment somebody asks him a question, what about this? The answer doesn't start with some knowledge that he already has accumulated in his mind. The answer starts with not knowing and being comfortable with not knowing. And then at some point, usually with Socrates, he starts to ask questions he still doesn't know. But out of this place of not knowing comes a question, then he listens to the answer, and then he still doesn't know. And then another question comes, and another not as it's reported in Plato, as if he already knew. He's just playing around with people. No, he was a. I know that because I know how that kind of discourse arises. And it's a wonderful place to become comfortable with not knowing who you are, or not knowing an answer, or not having an opinion. At some point you might have an opinion, and sometimes opinions are fine. You play around with opinions, not identifying with opinion, which is a mental position, but seeing that it's just a mental position that I happen to believe that this political party is better for the country than that political party. It doesn't mean you give up all that totally. You can still have those beliefs in your mind without being identified with the beliefs, which means you're not going to shout at people who have a different belief. So not knowing who you are is a wonderful place. And because then you become the presence, just spacious presence, and that can be in your life, in the background of your life, all the time in between your thoughts. When you're looking at something, when you're listening to someone, be the space, you don't need to know the next thing you're going to say. A good practice would be to maybe one day we'll practice it today. There may not be enough time. I could invite somebody up on the stage and say, now sit there and see what happens. And become comfortable with not knowing what to say. For many people it would be a nightmare. Some people have had nightmares where suddenly the curtain opens and they're on stage and there are 2,000 people there and you don't know your lines. And public speaking, therefore there are many people for whom public speaking is the most stressful. Thing ever. If they could go into that space of becoming comfortable with not knowing and just being the presence. And for a while they would say nothing. And then some words would come and they might be words like I have no idea what's going to come out of my mouth and that's fine. Of course I can't tell you what else will come because it's not my situation at the moment. Well, it is continuously mine. But you have to experience that for yourself. So in that not knowing there is a deep knowing, because you're going to the source of all knowing. So you can know anything through concepts or through the presence that is deeper than concepts. And the two may operate in your life. If you are balanced, then you go into a forest, walk through a forest, and for a while you might say, oh, that's such and such a tree, or this forest. You might have knowledge about this forest and the birds, whatever you see in it. And to apply it, you look at it through concepts, you can talk about it. And then the time may come when you let go of that. And now you're looking at the same tree that before you named. Mentally, you're looking at the same tree without naming it. And then you take in the totality of the forest without naming it. And it's only then that you can know the forest on a level that's deeper than concept. You would miss the essence of the forest if you only apply concepts to your sense perceptions and you look at the forest through the veil of your conceptualizations. But if you let go of concepts and you are the presence, then you can sense something that can't really be put into words, but it's the aliveness of the forest. This mind made sense of self is also much more focused on the negative than the positive. To be free, you awaken to who you are beyond your history and your life situation. It.