I started this book series to bring some entertainment, but also bring some insights and moral guidance to myself and to the reader. I always liked the worlds of ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Percy Jackson,’ so I wanted to write in the same narrative and adventure style.
But also I wanted to join it with the world of spirituality and human goodness. We all have moral values in us and the strength to act on them, even if sometimes the struggle in life clouds our judgement. So, I know you will enjoy this book, as it brings some needed adventure and insight into daily life.
More countries – Seek yoursFREE
And in just a few weeks the response in downloads from Amazon US has been really good, so I got these Amazon countries to join US and perma-free my book. Please click the button below for yours:
“Barnaby senses a change in the world. He knows there is a fight coming and he wants to be fully prepared. Today, his mind is full of Darius Dent, which is why he is slouched in front of the T.V.”
This is a review for “BARNABY BROWN and The Baetylus Stones.” Book 2 in the series.
This is a sci-fi, fantasy adventure of great measure. It is about time travel and about Good vs. Evil. It starts with action as soon as you start reading it, and you get the feeling that it’ll get more intense as you keep on reading. It is also about friendship and the growth of that friendship. Because, as I mentioned on my review of the first book, we have a normal teen and his high school friends here, a loving, single mother and a an uncle who builds a time machine. It all starts very normal and innocent.
BARNABY BROWN and The Baetylus Stones begins with terrible news for the main characters. Darius Dent is released from prison. If you haven’t read the first book yet, Darius Dent is the greedy antagonist, wealthy businessman, arms dealer, and now enemy of humankind. This begins a chains of events for young Barnaby and his friends. Darius seeks power, he wants to rule the world; and now, with the evil guidance of Lord Kallick, he aims to find The Baetylus Stones to become extremely powerful, unstoppable.
As you can imagine, the adventure can only get more intense from there. This story got me hooked from the start. I find it to be a fast-paced adventure full of twists and turns. You have also teen romance, as you witness Barnaby and Polly becoming a couple and sharing deep feelings towards each other. The imagination of the author is extremely refreshing and it gives me the feeling of freedom, and that is what great fantasy should give you, a great freedom to dream of the impossible, maybe to take a break from your life and recharge.
I give it a great 4 stars.
I would like to end this review by recommending this book. If you have gotten this far in the article, it means that you are interested. So, I ask you to find out more about the book and get your copy. Also please check out my books below. My young adult fantasy/mystery novel titled “BENJAMIN JONES – The Call of The Shaman has been released on KU, e-book, and paperback.
So, love and the mind are absolutely different experiences. The mind creates sexual desire, consuming passion, romance, obsession with your partner to possess her/him.
Love is a very powerful connection to one another, not attraction to a body or an arousal to a desire; but a deep connection which makes you peaceful and not excited, selfless in your thinking and behaving towards another.
Now, as human creatures we know love through the mind, we can access love and the experience of it; however, in order to know and experience love, one must tame the wild mind, control sexual urges and not be obsessed by them, so love can have room in the mind.
If the mind is filled with desires and obsessions, with constant thinking of sex and attachment to another, then love is not known, it does not truly exist in such a mind. Friendship is what better describes this selfless and unattached, liberating and peaceful phenomenon we call love.
That is how you know if you have true love for your partner, by being selfless, by being not obsessed by your sexual urges, by feeling like a true friend to her/him first. Friendship, this connection beyond desires, leads one to happiness, to bliss, to harmony in life.
If life and your mind is harmonious, not filled with urges and desires, then your relationships will be harmonious as well. A sexual attraction which is healthy for the mind is strengthened this way, for both the man and woman.
The music we listen, the people around us, the things we watch, the situations in which we take part, as is the foods we ingest–it all gets introduced into us, it soon becomes a part of us for better or for worse.
Quite often you desire to be with a particular person, or be in certain situations, or to eat something you like, or so on and so forth; but this is your ego, your mind’s content, and it might not be wise for your own well-being to follow these cravings without questioning them further.
You must always remember that everything which enters your mind and body, anything which enters via your physical senses, is energy that will become who you are as a person–regarding your intelligence, your wisdom, your mental health, your understanding, and all that which is your physical composition.
You must choose wisely, putting aside your ego or your simple desires; and you must choose wisely the time and energy you give to the people with whom you engage. It is not easy most of the time to choose the people in your life, like family for example; but as a mature adult you can indeed choose the conversations or activities to which you give your time.
It is about your mind and its content, and not about pleasing others or even pleasing your own ego; for it is about your maturity to choose better, which is the connection to your Higher Self. Do not make excuses for this; for, if you do, you are just harming yourself and distancing from self-love and wisdom. Avoid stress, frustration, sickness, and problems galore, by focusing on the right energies for your own personal growth.
Love has been distorted by society, by each person’s ego; it has been made an opinion, a belief, a thing which exists only if the ego is in a good mood–so we have romance, friendship, family, nationalistic, and various sorts of so-called “love.” But this love of the masses is not eternal but created by man. Under the heavy and dirty layers of these you find the spiritual love or divinity of God, that which man and woman claim to know but which still is not shown in their actions. Look at the world. Look at your society. Look at your own life. In 99% of cases, the ego tells people what love is, and people end up suffering for it, and the world ends up suffering for it.
So what is divine love…?? In order to understand divine love, the love of God, one must understand what a soul is. The spirit is something we all have, it is the substance of energy sustaining our bodies. But the soul YOU must build, because to have a full soul is tied to morality and ethics; however, we are born only with a soul-seed in order to develop ourselves and grow that seed. As one grows one must learn to live by higher principles, embodying higher truth and morals in all aspects; most people, as nice as they sound, do not do this, thus their soul is not whole.
Divine love comes to your conscious experience as a delight, always constant and full of wisdom and understanding:
1) (Filial Love) you must accept yourself in all terms, accept your emptiness and work on it, stop seeking pleasures to fill that void.
2) (Agapic Love) you must seek the growth of your true self and stop filling your ego with beliefs, imaginations, pleasures, and knowledge to feel superior over others, and so you have to meditate, pray, be humble and truthful in all you do in order to lessen the hold of your ego.
3) (Erotic or Creative Love) you must transmute your wild impulses and wild desires in order to attend on higher and more creative endeavors of the mind, focus on developing talents and on other things which can help you ascend and get in touch with your true self; because narrow is the gate and the animal cannot walk it, only the human being with a full soul can.
Only following these one can embrace and become full love, build a full soul and raise oneself above the pettiness of a trapped, egoistical, absurd, opportunistic mind.
Love is vastly misunderstood in society, in the world, by women and men; because it has been made a concept fitting philosophies and individual opinions tied to moods and circumstances. Ignorant people, most people, good people, perhaps even you, love based on their changing feelings–i.e., I love you if you share my point of view, I love you if you respect my feelings, I love you if you do this for me, I love you if you appreciate what I do for you and you thank me and respect me, etc. etc. Their “love” has expectations, a quid pro quo, a political battle for emotional recognition and worship; however, this shadow of love designed by society and by your own mind is flawed, imperfect, impure, and not free. This is bondage, is it not…??
But true love has no designed quality and feel of the mind, and that is why it is free. It does not belong to you or to me, but it is there. It is not something you create by having any relationship with someone else. It is not that you have to deserve love or that someone has to be intimate with you. Love is the Cosmic Consciousness of the great and divine Process of Creation, and so it is in you, there, and everywhere else. Love gives as air is there for all breathing, so do not allow your mind to confuse you on this: The highest form of love is support, giving, sharing without expecting, friendship. Love is existence, and you exist not to take but to experience; so, when you love, you just do it for the experience and opportunity to love.
This is the highest understanding, but not an intellectual understanding; for everybody in the world if you ask them would agree, but the fact is that nobody lives it. Nobody lives by this truth. This truth, when actually lived in your own life, brings great illumination and awakening. Of course, you may not see it and so make up excuses why you cannot love this way in your own life; but the mind begins to accept the truth with practice. Practice makes perfect. And that is what love really is: Perfection. The purest.
People tends to always follow this romantic concept of soulmates. Romanticism tends to be what love is for people. A soulmate is someone who people think is their most perfect fit, the end of struggle, the heart of happiness for them. But they miss the point due to ignorance and due to following all these concepts based on romance which are floating out there. Do you seek perfection, uninterrupted happiness…?? What do you think a soulmate really is…??
Physical life is never-ending challenges, always a reason to live better, and the best way to exist and explore your own existence; and thus there is romance, friendship, family, etc.–all bases for our constant psychological and emotional evolution. And nothing and no one is ever a solution or perfect. All one must do is to see beyond the flaws and imperfections, and then you may experience the magic of love, of happiness. And a soulmate is there to help us, a mirror of ourselves, someone to shake our ego and teach us or point us to a deep realization within ourselves; however, this so-called “soulmate” is not tied or limited by romance, or any other label society has designed for your ignorant and egoistical needs.
To learn to see this is to have a realization which elevates you. To learn to see this is illumination to your conscience. Because the mind is always looking into perfection and constant bliss, but this is not real–just an egoistical comparison influenced by society. So, stop looking for perfect, stop looking for yourself, stop dreaming and creating exactly what your ego wants; expand your views, your mind, step away from the influence you carry from society and start seeing things as they really are in life.
You are here to be an individual, to be you, to love you and care for you; after that love is self-discovered and you are happy with yourself, strong, confident, able to love being alone with yourself, then that love can expand outwardly and you can properly care for others. But first you must be your truest and most faithful friend, when situations are easy and when they are not, always there for yourself. Can you truly see the value in this…??
Now, most people in the world seek to be an individual, seek for love and happiness out there; they cannot bear to be alone, they hate themselves if they are alone for a long time, they do not know love because they seek it out there like the rest. So, in this empty game they play they find themselves alone and confused, following the ignorant crowd, they cannot reach intelligence because their minds are in agitation, always worried and stressed about relationships and being liked by others. Their attention falls into the world of form, thus their energy is misused by trying to compete and be liked by their potential partners, their bosses, their family, their friends, etc. They wear masks to compete and become attractive to others, they are never themselves because being themselves means to be emotionally exposed (which means taking off their masks), and so they are never truly free; but they are strangers to themselves and never loved, never happy. So if they are alone they have designed this concept of a broken heart.
A “broken heart”…?? Or a broken ego…?? They seek and lean on the world to find love and happiness when they have forgotten where love and happiness really lie; so their minds, their egos, become attached and obsessed, corrupted by society and the influence they get from it. They never find themselves, because they seek in relationships, in churches, in governments, in the media–they seek in these places to find a meaning to their empty lives, to find something which can give them some kind of activity to maybe find love and happiness there. But do they find it…?? No, the roller coaster continues and they are always pining, angry, frustrated, confused; and this monotonous and egoistical activity brings them shame, feelings of worthlessness, so-called “broken hearts,” and the rest of the nonsense in which they choose to dwell.
But this is pointless, isn’t it…?? Because love and happiness must be self-discovered, unique of themselves. Who cares about competing?! One must create his own life, inside, not outside. One must never be a stranger to oneself; because if there is indeed a sin, that is it.
Yes, it is indeed difficult to lose someone really special, someone you loved dearly; but life gives us meaning by change, by an old death and new birth, and so the cycle under time goes on and on throughout our lives. And exactly this should never be forgotten, that life is change; if you adapt to change, you may find strength to go on and become better in your life…
“I’ve lost my best friend…”
Ever lost someone, but someone extremely special to you, someone you carry in your very DNA, someone who made you into who you are today, someone who you feel in your very bones, in your very flesh, and someone who somehow in your each laughter and tear lights your way in this life…??
We would build trenches and castles in the sand, We would play video games and he’d let me win; Life was easy, without tears, perfect around him, He was God to me, no Devils, no demons, no sin… I wish I knew why, but I grew up and demons came. O how I wish I would understand why I went insane! O too many memories for I’ve lost my best friend! I always loved him but I did not show it till the end! If I could go back in time I’d tell you what I should, Yes, I would not cause you any pain and be good.
Once he called me in the room and sat me down, He smiled warmly, but very proudly I looked away; He tried to talk sense into me, guide me with love, But I remained distant, like I knew the better way… Jumping from school to school, I brought him pain. O how I wish I would understand why I went insane! O too many memories for I’ve lost my best friend! He was my dad, my very all, my partner till the end! He loved his family and brought us to new shores, In the new territory he taught me how to open doors.
In his last moments at the hospital I didn’t say much, He went somewhere and never came back to me. So cherish your loved ones, love all their characters, For after death they in your memories you will see… Yes, I learned from my father all a real man should. O how great he was even though I was not so good! O too many memories for I’ve lost my best friend! I always loved him but I did not show it till the end! Wherever you are I hope you see the man I am now. As you guide me forth I promise to make you proud.
Losing a loved one is always a tragedy, a moment of sadness no one can avoid; however, this is the beauty of life, all this change and pain is what makes us or destroys us–it is the challenges that which is the very heart of life. We are meant to live these challenges, not to turn away from them or denied them but to feel them, cherish them, learn from them, and rise from the ashes that live in you. That’s the secret: Rising from the ashes, not staying buried in them.
From The One Source all beings, all nature was created; and this is why we are all related to each other, and this is why The One Source became many and relationships were born.
Humankind’s true heart is relationship then, a deeper connection than what we see, because we are all connected by an invisible thread we may call love; however, this love, the very essence of it, has nothing to do with superficial concepts humans have designed. No, this love is the deepest connection, which goes beyond sex, beyond dating, beyond a marriage, beyond any friendship.
For most of humanity, sadly, relationship is a give and take relation based on dependency, attachment, sometimes obsession and even harmful addiction. And many rush into these relationships because the man or woman looks physically attractive, or because there is great intellect, or a good economic stand, or good conversation; however, these traits, as alluring as they might be for you, are attached to time and space, which means flesh decay, the emotional roller coaster, and the various moods tied to different outer situations in life.
So, is this the essence of love or just something more superficial…??
Human love is a give and take–i.e., I love you if you care and love me back, I want a relationship if you look attractive enough and if you are intelligent enough, I will be with you if you are always nice to me and make me feel good, etc. Humans have created concepts like friendship love, romantic love, sexual love, and the rest. This human love has or comes with judging, jealousy, hatred, etc. This human love, even though people call it love, is really attachment–i.e., a superficial form of “love” the ego creates out of fear of being alone, fear of not being like the rest, fear of not keeping tradition, etc. etc.
But the essence of divine love is pure, does not ask for anything, it is a deeper connection–I love because I love, in the process of loving I find happiness, and I do not depend on anything or anybody to feel loved and happy.‘ This love essence is pure, ABSOLUTE freedom, not ties to moods, characters, ways of the flesh, emotional roller coasters, aging, economical issues, papers of marriage, and the rest of the petty human condition in relationships.
Without judging, I really think one must inquire into this because, even though we are all human beings and forming these relationships, if we are to really love ourselves and another, love all beings and the whole Earth, then a deeper realization should be awakened in us. In order to form really deep connections one must look beyond matter, beyond these petty and superficial facades, and embrace the truth of it all, the truth of our Great One Source.
“For most of us, relationship with another is based on dependence, either economic or psychological. This dependence creates fear, breeds in us possessiveness, results in friction, suspicion, frustration.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti.
- Asa Rodriguez - 