What actually is the difference between the modern "Neo"-Advaita and the traditional Advaita Vedanta? To me modern western neo-advaita is as if a surgeon operated without studies and practical education.
Because the human mind wants to analyze and classify everything it takes possession of, it inevitably creates a science out of everything. If mind deals with Oneness it does the same. Using the method of analysis mind creates two and more things out of the One. It builds a complicated construct of ideas and calls it for example "religious science", "philosophy" or "teachings of Advaita-Vedanta".
The term "Neo-Advaita" isn't quite right because a "new non-dualism" actually doesn't make sense. The kind of "non-dualism" I define in the ->glossary doesn't care about the form of the traditional Indian Advaita Vedanta. I only borrowed the Sanskrit-word "Advaita". Nothing more. So forget about Advaita and Neo-Advaita. It's only an unnecessary dead weight. It's not a matter of words, but of the ONE. The direct unfiltered teaching of something that can't be taught. Here, in Europe and not in India. In English or German and not in Marathi or Tamil language. Until mind gives up.
And now I'm coming to your interesting image. I would express it as follows: Where there is no patient, there is no need for a surgeon. The surgeon can't operate a completely healthy human being into more health, no matter how brilliant he is. So the operation is cancelled because it was identified, from no one, as unnecessary.
Oliver, do you still suffer? Do you still feel irritation or anger?
Anger can still appear. Sadness or fear too, according to the conditioning of the body-mind-unit which can be very strong after some years of life, as you perhaps know... Everything can appear. But you can't call it suffering, because suffering needs a person who suffers, which doesn't exist anymore in this case. There is just impersonal anger, and acts may occur to calm down the anger, which is felt as a kind of energy in the body. But there aren't thoughts anymore, which personify the anger, give a personal history to it and transform it into suffering. Without this history anger or sadness disappear very quickly. But no matter how strong anger or sadness might be: the impersonal basic feeling of deep peace is always present.
If our life is pre-determined, does this mean that we can't do anything? That everything happens as it should happen? Is everything "God's Plan"?
Life, the world, the universe simply happen. EVERYTHING simply happens. Without a plan and without a cause (creator), without time and space. The human mind that thinks it is a separate person with its own proper will simply happens. Decisions and acts happen without being anybody's decisions or acts. And to every "happening" you can always add an "apparently". Because actually nothing happens at all. There is only Oneness. You are endlessly free. You are the feather in the wind. And you are the wind.
To believe that everything is ONE frightens me more than it makes me happy, because I'm completely alone. I feel so lonely with this image.
That's because this thought automatically put "being alone" on the same level than with "being lonely". To be completely alone doesn't mean to be lonely. Only a separate ME, a ME who can't imagine being without other separate ME's suffers with the idea that a world without other ME's could be lonely. In complete Oneness emptiness isn't felt as loneliness but as fusion with EVERYTHING. It can approximately be described with the terms freedom, peace and bliss. Because this feeling isn't personal there is no need for others to bring me freedom, peace or happiness. The others are Oneness too.
It is said that one has to get rid of everything in order to get completely liberated. What exactly does this mean?
The pre-conditioned imagination of human beings in this dual world of time and space is that everything must have a cause. Before complete liberation can occur, as is often argued, something has to happen. For example, something has to be gotten rid of (for example fear, material things, some thoughts, etc.) or a "gateway to enlightenment" has to be crossed or a jump into freedom has to be made. The list is endless. But there isn't anybody who could or has to get rid of something. Oneness can't let go of Oneness. Oneness can't cross over Oneness. Oneness was, is and always will remain Oneness. You don't have to get rid of wealth (unless you prefer to live under a bridge from now on) either. Wealth itself IS oneness. You don't have to get rid of an "unworthy" thought either. The thought is Oneness as well. Liberation doesn't happen BECAUSE of giving up something but, if you like, IN SPITE of the giving up. Oneness was there before the giving up and will be there afterwards. Just like waves in the ocean are always there and are always the ocean. Liberation is exactly NOW.
