Eckhart Tolle takes Socrates' claim to know nothing as a pointer to the state that opens when one steps out of the thinking mind's interpretations and judgments. He notes that the ego resists this 'not knowing' because non-judgment loosens its hold on others and on itself.
Transcript
become familiar and comfortable with that state of not knowing, which is there the moment you step out of the thinking mind with its continuous interpretations and judgements, then you're in a state of not knowing. Socrates, Greek philosopher, who never wrote anything, he just talked. And Plato was one of his disciples, wrote about what Socrates said. We never know how much of it is Plato and how much of it is Socrates. But one certain things are definitely Socrates and one of his most famous sayings, of course, is well, when he was asked why does the Oracle of Delphi call you the wisest of all men? He said the reason why I'm the wisest of all men is that I'm the only one who knows that he knows nothing. Not many people actually have understood over the centuries what I see as the deeper meaning of those words. Mostly it's interpreted as pretending not to know, feigning modesty, which is a disguised form of ego. It's like saying I'm the most ego-less person of all. I'm the most ego-less person of all. Nobody is more ego-less than me, that's for sure. I'm the only one who knows that he knows nothing. So it's not I don't I suggest it's not feigned modesty, there's a deeper meaning and the deeper meaning is that all his extremely creative teachings uh they all you might know that the teachings all are he used to teach in for the form of dialogues with people. So they would ask him questions and then he would ask them questions and finally the teaching emerged out of the dialogue. >> [clears throat] >> And often he showed that the original premise that they start with somebody started with is erroneous, but it gradually emerges. So I'm the only one who knows that he knows nothing means, as I see it, that he started every talk in stillness. He did not begin his teachings every with accumulated knowledge in his mind, which he then regurgitated. He was able to be so creative in his thinking, very creative thinking. In fact, many people say that that we learned or Western civilization, at least learned how to think through the ancient Greek philosophers and especially Socrates. He taught us how to think. >> [clears throat] >> So he was thinking able to think creatively, use of his mind. He had access to to the creative creativity within him. And the only way you can do that is by not starting from knowledge, but starting from ignorance. Now, ignorance, the way I use the term, is not conventional meaning of ignorance. It's to step out of the thinking mind into just aware stillness. And in that moment, you don't know anything. That's how I start every talk. It's always starts with thought-less awareness. In other words, I have no idea what I'm going to say. That's another way of putting it. Thought-less awareness sounds better. But the truth is I have no idea what I'm going to say before I start. Occasionally, earlier I came in with a newspaper. Of course, I had some idea then I was going to show you the newspaper and the article. So it does happen occasionally. And that is not only when you are about to give talks, that is the most vital state for you to become familiar and comfortable with that state of not knowing, which is there the moment you step out of the thinking mind with its continuous interpretations and judgements, then you're in a state of not knowing. When you look at a sky or a tree or at another person and there's just a background of awareness to your sense perception, at that moment you don't know anything. Not conceptually, you know nothing. Because without thought, you don't know anything. There's no knowledge. And that is something that could hold you back because the ego is afraid of that state. It feels I become as nothing. I become stupid. I I no longer I'm at the mercy of other people if I can't judge them anymore and all kinds of things that are obstacles that can arise unconsciously and they very quickly take you out again of that state of aware spacious presence. So it's good good to look out for that. There is something in you that's not comfortable with that, is even afraid of it, feels diminished by it. And that's the ego.