The incident [of having the “insane” woman mirroring myself back to me] not only gave me a first glimpse of awareness, it also planted the first doubt as to the absolute validity of the human intellect. A few months later, something tragic happened that made my doubt grow. On a Monday morning, we arrived for a lecture to be given by a professor whose mind I admired greatly, only to be told that sadly he had committed suicide sometime during the weekend by shooting himself. I was stunned. He was a highly respected teacher and seemed to have all of the answers. However, I could as yet see not alternative to the cultivation of [conceptual] thought. I didn’t realize yet that thinking is only a tiny aspect of the consciousness that we are, nor did I know anything about the ego, let alone being able to determine it within myself.
Eckhart Tolle
from A New Earth; Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
Section: The Voice in the Head