Sun Seeking Light (Joshua Benavides)
More (and Less) Neo-Advaita Nonsense
[My 1-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Sun Seeking Light: Ending the Search for Spiritual Enlightenment” by Joshua Ben Avides.]
I downloaded this “book,” and zipped through its 72 pages in ten minutes. I counted the words in the first ten pages of the book—65, 16, 64, 39, 35, 42, 52, 56, 29, 24 = 422—and by my calculations, that means the 72 pages contain a grand total of 3000 words, about 7 full pages of a regular book. Hence, calling this “book” a book is a joke, and charging $2.99 for it is even more egregious.
But perhaps the quality of the words outweighs the quantity. Not in the case of this “book”—unless banal, recycled neo-Advaita philosophy floats your boat. Here’s a typical sample (entire) page from the text:
How far is a sound
From the hearing?
How far is a color
From the seeing?
How far is a sensation
From the feeling?
Separation
Is only a thought.
First off, sensations are not necessarily felt. When you smell food cooking, you don’t “feel” it. Second, separation is not only a thought; it is a reality. If you don’t believe it, try walking through a wall that separates you from the other side.
Here’s another (entire) page:
Sounds come and go
Silence remains
Objects come and go
Space remains
Images come and go
The seeing remains
The natural state
It is simply being
What you are
Silent-Spacious-Seeing
You are not “seeing,” a verb; you are the Seer, a noun. The Seer and his “seeing” are not “spacious;” they are spaceless. Being is outside of time and space, and “spaciousness” pertains to space. What you really are (Sat) is Siva-Shakti (Consciousness-Power) or Cit-Ananda (Consciousness-Bliss-Energy), but surface-level neo-Advaitans like this author don’t mention Shakti or its Bliss-current, Ananda. The Self is not inert Silence; it is a dynamic living Intensity.
One final excerpt:
Problems are just thoughts.
But thoughts are not problems.
Truth-realiation is not the
End of thoughts.
Truth-realization is the end
Of believing them to be true.
According to this author’s philosophy, if your wife and young daughters are being raped, tortured and murdered, this “problem” is “just thoughts.” But if you realize Truth, and no longer believe your thoughts to be true, then you will no longer have a problem with the rape, torture, and murders. If you vibe with this author’s philosophy, then this nonsensical 3000-word off-the-neo-Vedanta- assembly-line text could be your spiritual cup of tea.
[My 1-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Sun Seeking Light: Ending the Search for Spiritual Enlightenment” by Joshua Ben Avides.]
I downloaded this “book,” and zipped through its 72 pages in ten minutes. I counted the words in the first ten pages of the book—65, 16, 64, 39, 35, 42, 52, 56, 29, 24 = 422—and by my calculations, that means the 72 pages contain a grand total of 3000 words, about 7 full pages of a regular book. Hence, calling this “book” a book is a joke, and charging $2.99 for it is even more egregious.
But perhaps the quality of the words outweighs the quantity. Not in the case of this “book”—unless banal, recycled neo-Advaita philosophy floats your boat. Here’s a typical sample (entire) page from the text:
How far is a sound
From the hearing?
How far is a color
From the seeing?
How far is a sensation
From the feeling?
Separation
Is only a thought.
First off, sensations are not necessarily felt. When you smell food cooking, you don’t “feel” it. Second, separation is not only a thought; it is a reality. If you don’t believe it, try walking through a wall that separates you from the other side.
Here’s another (entire) page:
Sounds come and go
Silence remains
Objects come and go
Space remains
Images come and go
The seeing remains
The natural state
It is simply being
What you are
Silent-Spacious-Seeing
You are not “seeing,” a verb; you are the Seer, a noun. The Seer and his “seeing” are not “spacious;” they are spaceless. Being is outside of time and space, and “spaciousness” pertains to space. What you really are (Sat) is Siva-Shakti (Consciousness-Power) or Cit-Ananda (Consciousness-Bliss-Energy), but surface-level neo-Advaitans like this author don’t mention Shakti or its Bliss-current, Ananda. The Self is not inert Silence; it is a dynamic living Intensity.
One final excerpt:
Problems are just thoughts.
But thoughts are not problems.
Truth-realiation is not the
End of thoughts.
Truth-realization is the end
Of believing them to be true.
According to this author’s philosophy, if your wife and young daughters are being raped, tortured and murdered, this “problem” is “just thoughts.” But if you realize Truth, and no longer believe your thoughts to be true, then you will no longer have a problem with the rape, torture, and murders. If you vibe with this author’s philosophy, then this nonsensical 3000-word off-the-neo-Vedanta- assembly-line text could be your spiritual cup of tea.
