Question 16: You say that everything is one. The ONE. So a tree is nothing but the ONE appearing as a tree isn't it? But how is it possible for the attribute-less and boundless ONE to appear as a tree (= maya) in the consciousness?
Oliver: The tree being the ONE that appears as a tree is of course only a concept for the human mind which wants to imagine something. It's a kind of mental practice. Like maya (the illusory world) or leela (the divine game) are only concepts as well. Actually there isn't any tree. Nothing ever happens. The human mind is not capable of imaging oneness because mind itself IS oneness. At the end every concept has to be abandoned because it never leads to the truth. Liberation means liberation from concepts, even if they are exciting and challenging for a while. The purpose of every practice (for example meditation) is to demoralise the apparent person who wants to be liberated so that he/she stops practicing. Nobody can make this happen, even I can't. But it is also completely unnecessary, because the apparent person who should stop practicing is the ONE too! So nothing has to happen at all. Therefore I constantly repeat: Relax and don't do anything special respectively do what you are just doing NOW. Everything now and in every moment is the ONE you are looking for.
Question 17: When you look at the mirror what do you see?
Oliver: There is the same well-known face like every morning. But it doesn't belong to anybody anymore. There is no more difference between the face in the mirror and the mirror itself. In the manifestation, the apparent world that emerges from you (Being), things can change or not. It doesn't matter what apparently changes. Like the ocean doesn't care about the forms of its waves. Water is still water and oneness is still oneness.
Question 18: How do you deal with sadness, anger or problems?
Oliver: I would like to refer to the answer No. 3. Since emotions like anger or sadness aren't personified anymore because of the nonexistent identification, they just appear as a part of the conditioning of the "psycho-biologic-machine" named human being. Anger remains anger and acts occur to reduce or transform anger. Sadness remains sadness, pain remains pain. But because pain is impersonal no such a thing like suffering is developed or (in case of sadness) no self-pity. There is just sadness. There is just pain. The ocean with huge waves is still the ocean. Perhaps the conditioning is changing by and by when the element "time" permanently stays away. In general, everything can occur.
Another note: There are of course effective methods of "brainwashing" to change the conditioning of a human being and to solve apparent problems in this way. These methods are very effective and facilitate the communication and the living together of people in this (apparent) world of manifestation. I am thinking for example of the method of non-violent communication by Marshall Rosenberg (which I can warmly recommend to everybody who likes it) or of a course in miracles. Other methods like for example practices of meditation are used to control body and mind. Of course they have no influence on the Being because they ARE the Being. They are in a way another characteristic in the game of life.
Question 19: Could you explain the term "phenomenon"? At the end a tree is like consciousness appearing to us as a tree, isn't it?
Oliver: If you have read the previous answers to the questions you will know that I prefer the simple to the complicated thing because the One is in a way endlessly simple and anyway can't be put into words anyway. Therefore, I suggest not to introduce new terms at this point but to show you the image of the ocean:
Imagine there is only the ocean (the One, Being, consciousness, awareness, god). The nature of the ocean (= the divine game of separation) is to form waves (= manifestation, phenomena). Imagine the ocean consists of billions and billions of thoughts. Consequently waves are thoughts too because waves aren't separate from the ocean. And thoughts are...empty. Nothing. You can picture the tree and all phenomena as being thought forms, ascending and descending out of what YOU are: the ocean of Being. The ocean doesn't care about the waves, not even if one little wave out of billions of waves suddenly thinks it is separated from the ocean. The ocean and therefore of course the identified person remains as always still the One.
Question 20: Who actually is identifying with a person? Consciousness or mind?
Oliver: You can, if you like to, use my favourite picture of the ocean of question 19 and imagine the mind being an accumulation of billions of thoughts arising out of the ocean of Being like waves. Instead of "arise" you can also use "happen". Thoughts are happening, mind is happening. One of these thoughts is, according to this concept, the (apparent) thought of separation creating an identified person, even if of course there is no thought and therefore no mind separated from the Being. So there is, in a way, "no one" identifying with a person. You may say identification is appearing. And disappearing. Or not. Who cares?
Let me say this again: these are only concepts for the asking mind whose nature is to ask questions. In truth nothing is arising and nothing is happening. Linear imaginations of time and space completely disappears in the Being.
