Book Review - The Celestine Prophecy (1993)

A Renaissance of consciousness?

The Celestine Prophecy
James Redfield
Warner Books, 1993
246 pages

The Celestine Prophecy hails from the early 90s as a classic #1 New York Times bestseller about self-discovery.  The book has sold more than ten million copies worldwide.  It continues to appeal to readers on both sides of the spirituality divide.  (This site has touched on some of the connectedness concepts in Letting the Hard Times Go.)

This reviewer, definitely on the "reasonable" side of said divide, feels Celestine contributes to general understanding of our species’ place in the cosmos—not to mention our own individual place and meaning.  (This coming from an Objectivist, albeit a beer-drinking, holistic one.)

The book also presents plausible explanations for why many people do what they do, often performing actions that are nonfulfilling.  Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance(1), Celestine suggests an intelligent vector for our own spiritual journey through life by reference to the main character’s physical journey.  Hence, the plot.

In Celestine, the narrator hears from a former girlfriend of a set of manuscripts in Peru that contain fabulous insights.  He hops on a plane for the South American country and has a number of adventures that lead him successively to a total of nine such revelations.  The plot isn’t so believable (or entertaining) as the insights—from philosophy to psychology.

In a nutshell:

1. A Critical Mass—The first insight proceeds from an internal restlessness, a quest to know, then the awareness of coincidences in our life, and being open to meaning in these coincidences.  As the events of one’s life proceed, one integrates them with one’s goals to move to the next level of fulfillment of one’s purpose.
2. The Longer Now—Redfield’s historical perspective: for the first Millennium (and presumably prior to that), humankind knew its place in the cosmos, and blindly obeyed spiritual authority.  In the second Millennium we broke the mold, started figuring out the world for ourselves, and are now on the threshold of a new understanding.
3. A Matter of Energy—The third insight describes this "new understanding of the physical world.  It says humans will learn to perceive what was formerly an invisible type of energy."  In essence, the energy is our own living energy provided by the natural world into our breathing and thinking.  We will learn to tap into the Energy, consciously.
4. The Struggle for Power—Humans tend to seek control over others not simply for some tangible gain, but because of the lift it gives them psychologically.  Rather than obtain the energy first hand, many become addicted to seeking the energy through others; unclear people tend to steal energy, especially adults from children.
5. The Message of the Mystics—The shortage of energy can be remedied by opening up to the universal source.  In the book, the narrator finds a connection to the source through a period of contemplation in the pristine mountains and old forests of Peru.
6. Clearing the Past—The sixth insight delves into the power struggles we face with others, particularly our parents.  This is the "pop psychology" section of the book, with an analysis of what Redfield calls control dramas.  For example, if a parent deals with us by intimidation, we may become aloof; an interrogating parent may encourage us to respond with a "poor me" attitude.  Understanding these can help us connect to the flow.  Personally, I like most pop psychology and mom psychology, as well.
7. Engaging the Flow—This chapter focuses mainly on techniques for meditation, especially how to take in the beauty and love-energy of nature.  It talks about deep breathing and love, defined as: "the background emotion that exists when one is connected to the energy available in the universe, which, of course, is the energy of God."
8. The Interpersonal Ethic—Talks about how to help others by sharing energy.  I particularly appreciate the point of how often people become addicted to other people; this is an interesting analysis of how we can expect another, particularly a romantic partner, to fill an energy deficit.  When the other ceases to do that, the love fails.
9. The Emerging Culture—Redfield takes off the gloves and reveals the future in store for a fully energy-connected and actualized humanity.  Sure it’s utopian—scarcity is overcome and people spend their days embracing and sharing the energy, what we might call being continuously creative—but someday utopia may be an option.

In the story, our narrator comes upon the above discoveries through interaction with other characters on a mission to find the ancient manuscript that contains all the insights.  The origin of the manuscript was always a little unclear, perhaps deliberately.  As I recall the Celestines were (Catholic?) monks who served as custodians of the Manuscript, which was written (by some spiritual Peruvian) in 600 BC.

No matter, what’s important is the vision Redfield shares with us.  It’s his baby, his creation.  He continues later in a book entitled The Tenth Insight, and has also written The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh Insight.  The success of Celestine led to a network of discussion groups, and the Celestine Vision website keeps the flame alive.  A movie is in the works.

Among the skeptical community, Celestine has an uneven reputation.  (I did read The Tenth Insight and found it ponderous, to say the least; its reincarnation crosses the line into deuces-wild mysticism.)  But I like the imagery and the "synthesis" of Celestine.  It puts us together as human beings in a natural world in a healthful way.

It provides some practical insights and tools.  It’s simple and benevolent.  I rely on some of the ideas to help me improve myself as time goes by, especially the meditative concepts.

So all I have to say, "If this be spiritualism, make the most of it."