Eckhart Tolle examines a Greek Stoic philosopher who, told his son died, replied "I knew he was not immortal." Tolle questions whether this reflects genuine wisdom or emotional numbness, and suggests the philosopher might have meant "I know he is immortal" instead. The story probes what detachment really is.
The Greek philosopher, when he was told, your son has just died, he's supposed to have said, I knew he was not immortal. And he is supposed to have been a Stoic philosopher. Now, we don't know what his inner state actually was at the time. Was he completely cut off from his emotions? Was he just— or had he gone so deep that the entire world Around him appeared to him as a dreamlike scenario, that perhaps he'd gone so deep into being that he had lost interest in this dimension completely. Who knows? Or was he cut off? Had he cut himself off and mistaken that for spiritual realization? We don't know. Perhaps a better answer would have been Maybe that's what he actually said and got misinterpreted. A better answer would have been, I know he is immortal, and that would have been probably closer to the truth.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
