is that so

I was reading over chapter 7 in "A New Earth" again today and came across the story Eckhart often shares about the Zen master who was accused of fathering a child, to which the Master's response was "Is that so?" The master then continued to take care of the child, even though his reputation was demolished, for the next year until he was later absolved of being the father, to which his response was, once again, "Is that so?" I find this level of acceptance stunning and wonder how any of us would react if this had happened to us? Eckhart writes, "The Master responds to falsehood and truth, bad news and good news, in exactly the same way: 'Is that so?' He allows the form of the moment, good or bad, to be as it is and so does not become a participant in human drama. To him, there is only this moment, and this moment is as it is. Events are not personalized. He is nobody's victim. He is so completely at one with what happens that what happens has no power over him anymore. Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness."