The Celestine Prophecy

by James Redfield

book data

7,508 ratings, 3.30 average rating, 989 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		20%
4		26%
3		26%
2		14%
1		11%

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published

September 1st 1995 (first published 1993) by Warner Books

binding

Paperback, 256 pages

isbn

0446671002 (isbn13: 9780446671002)

description

Find out for yourself why virtually everyone you know has this book, described as an "adventure in pursuit of a spiritual mystery", on their...more

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08/07/07

Prairie78 rated it:

(review of isbn 1568951132)

bookshelves: pleasegodno

I resent when a writer who has a lot of opinions about, ya know, stuff, decides that everyone should hear about all the stuff he's thinking about, but then realizes that maybe it would be boring as all get out, so then decides that if he turns all the stuff he's thinking into a novel, then maybe people will read it. This way he still gets to spout rhetoric at his readers, but couch it in "fiction." No, sir, you cannot bend fiction to your evil will. Just because you put something withi...more

Like this review? yes (15 people liked it)

2 comments

08/22/07

Bill rated it:

Read in January, 1995

Someone gave my wife a hard cover copy of this book when she was in the hospital. I picked it up and read perhaps the first 50 or so pages while I was sitting in her hospital room, then I skimmed the rest of it and tossed it in the trash. What I saw was poor writing, misguided ideas, lack of structure and in general a waste of paper and ink, all in the guise of a novel of some sort. If I'd had anything else to read, maybe the back of a cereal box or the instructions for operating the medical equ...more

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12/02/07

Tucker rated it:

bookshelves: finished

Read in November, 2007

This book encourages a spiritual-but-not-religious awakening. The flimsy, implausible storyline and the not-so-well-crafted dialogue is only a device to present the pillars of this New Age philosophy. There is no plot and no tension. It is apparent from the beginning that the Nine Insights will be revealed, one by one, in order, at a predictable pace, and will not be rigorously defined or defended. In one sense, they cannot be defined, because they represent non-propositional knowledge—-th...more This book encourages a spiritual-but-not-religious awakening. The flimsy, implausible storyline and the not-so-well-crafted dialogue is only a device to present the pillars of this New Age philosophy. There is no plot and no tension. It is apparent from the beginning that the Nine Insights will be revealed, one by one, in order, at a predictable pace, and will not be rigorously defined or defended. In one sense, they cannot be defined, because they represent non-propositional knowledge—-that is, things you have to discover, learn, and experience yourself, rather than things you can learn from a book. At least the author is on target in his recommendation that vegetables are better when you grow them yourself.

The Insights, paraphrased:

First Insight: Figure out what you are searching for. Notice coincidences.

Second Insight: Connect energy so coincidences happen more often. Think about time from the perspective of a millennium.

Third Insight: Be aware of beauty, eat home-grown vegetables, and see auras around all living things.
Fourth Insight: Understand that humans compete for energy in “control dramas” we learn from our parents.

Fifth Insight: Have a sensual “mystical awareness.” Appreciate beauty to receive energy, and feel love to give energy. Controlling others disconnects you from your own source of energy. This insight will end human conflict.

Sixth Insight: Examine your family “control dramas” on a spectrum that ranks individuals from aggressive to passive. See that there is an ambiguity in who is right and wrong. Transcend your drama and become aware of your own spiritual mission.

Seventh Insight: Love causes high energy, stress causes low energy. Push away frequent feelings of fear—but, after they are mostly gone, when you occasionally feel negativity, take it seriously.

Eighth Insight: Treat others well insofar as we help each other evolve. Talk to the right people to get the answers you want. Avoid being “addicted” to other people, especially to their opposite-sex energy. You can receive opposite-sex energy naturally and directly from the universe. Addiction to getting energy from other people will stop your growth. Tell children the truth, and don’t create control dramas for them.

Ninth Insight: We will choose to have less people and more old-growth forests, so everyone can live in a forest. We will do less labor and more philosophy. Evolved groups will become invisible to lesser-evolved groups and these invisible people will walk into heaven.(less)

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06/29/07

Sam rated it:

(review of isbn 044651862X)

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: no one

I really hoped this book would be as good as "everyone" says it is. I was totally underwhelmed. Painfully jejune plot, paper-thin characters, pedestrian prose, and for what? A handful of ridiculous "insights" about how our expectations affect the physical world and how we fight for each other's "energy." Maybe if I sit down and meditate toward this book I can make it vanish permanently.

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07/22/07

David rated it:

bookshelves: embarrassed-to-own, intellectual-con-artist-at-work, utter-dreck

The only reason I own this piece of idiotic dreck is because QPBC sent it to me as the book of the month and I wasn't quick enough off the mark about sending it back - OK?

I just needed to make that perfectly clear. I do actually have a brain, and this book is clearly aimed at those who do not.

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

1 comment

12/18/08

Tess rated it:

(review of isbn 044651862X)

Read in January, 1999

Utter rubbish from start to finish. This is the literary equivalent of a Ponzi scheme. He made loads of money based on fraud. Nothing there.

If you have a brain, use it, and don't go near this book.

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

2 comments

02/04/08

Darby rated it:

bookshelves: favorites, own, spirituality

Read in December, 1996

I read this book at the end of 1996 or around beginning of 1997. I read about it in a magazine I used to get that I loved called, "Catalist." (The magazine went out of print - sorry to say - because I loved that magazine and still have all my issues - less then 2 years worth published.)

The Celestine Prophecy woke me up. I had been sleepwalking in the world. I woke up after I read this book and realized there was so much more I was suppose to be doing in this world. I realiz...more

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09/22/07

Joe rated it:

Some relevent and feel good ideas rooted mostly in the more mystical and esoteric branches of various world religions are choked by a sugary new-age coating and a completely irrelevent "mystery novel" story line. There is no story, the characters walk along, find a page and read it. The relevent contents of this book could be handed out in a one page pamphlet.

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01/24/09

Dave rated it:

bookshelves: spiritual

Read in May, 2007

• This is the 2nd time I’ve read this book. And while I’m pretty sure most of it is fictional, I still think it carries some valuable insights…so I want to summarize them in the 9 insights of the book and my understanding of them:
o 1) Noticing the coincidences in life is the first step. The more I become aware of coincidences, the more I’ll become aware of a universal force behind them.
o 2) This is about putting my awareness into a longer historical perspective. Imagining...more • This is the 2nd time I’ve read this book. And while I’m pretty sure most of it is fictional, I still think it carries some valuable insights…so I want to summarize them in the 9 insights of the book and my understanding of them:
o 1) Noticing the coincidences in life is the first step. The more I become aware of coincidences, the more I’ll become aware of a universal force behind them.
o 2) This is about putting my awareness into a longer historical perspective. Imagining myself as a part of all humanity, and standing at the tip of the arrow with over two millennia behind me. As I see within myself the entire history of thought and actions of humanity I can see myself waking up to what is really going on.
o 3) This is about a transformed understanding of the physical universe. It begins with a heightened sensitivity to beauty, the uniqueness, and presence of nature. Then we begin to see that the whole universe is made out of energy that responds to how I think.
o 4) Often, when people cut themselves off from the infinite source of energy in the universe, they try to take it from other people…leading to a struggle for power (energy), and often in the end we feel depleted.
o 5) This is about the truth that we can tap into the infinite energy of the universe. It brings a lightness with it, and we feel ourselves connected to everything. Whenever we want to, we can tap into this.
o 6) This is about clearing our past. We operate out of certain control dramas that we learned to make sure we had enough energy as children…Either being an intimidator, interrogator, being aloof, or being a poor me. All are usually unconscious patterns we fall into to get energy from others. I’m still not sure what mine is, I think it’d be interrogator. The second part of this is that our parents left us with a basic life question that is the combination of the question both of their lives stood for. Put simply, mom’s life question is how to I live spiritually within the world? And dad’s is how do I have fun, do well, and live a life of service? So in that case mine would be trying to blend service and joy and spirituality.
o 7) This is about conscious evolution…by actively connecting to ininate energy by thinking about love, then remembering my basic life question, then center myself on my path by discovering the immeadiate, smaller questions that currently confront my life. These questions always pertain to my larger question and define where I am on my lifelong quest. The problem is not getting answers, the problem is identifying my current questions! ☺ Holding these questions firmly in mind, pay attention to what pops out in the outside world.
o 8) This is about intimate relationships, and the danger that “love at first sight” can pull us off our important journey by mistaking our partner for the infinite love-connection of the universe! To avoid this, resist the love at first sight feeling for a while and learn to have platonic relationships with members of the opposite sex. And have them only with people who will reveal themselves totally, telling me how and why they are doing what they are doing. By doing this, I break out of a fantasy projection about that sex, and it releases me to connect again with the energy of the universe.
9) this last insight reveals our ultimate destiny…that as hunmans, we are the culmination of the whole of evolution. As groups of us vibrate at higher levels, we’ll become invincible to those at lower levels, and vibrate high enough to walk into heaven in our same form.
(less)

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06/29/08

Samantha rated it:

(review of isbn 044651862X)

bookshelves: spiritual-journey

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Samantha by: -K-
recommends it for: Those asking the larger of lifes questions

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Really an excellent book! Definitely mystical but helpful. It reminded me a bit of the Da Vinci Code in that you traveled along with the main character on this quest but instead of it being a quest to find some religious artifact or truth that is external, this quest was internal about finding something about yourself. It is written in such a way that you journey on this quest with the main character but his quest is your quest. I have found that this can be true for almost anything though. ...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

2 comments

02/19/08

John rated it:

(review of isbn 0367575655)

bookshelves: fiction, notgoodreads, religion

Read in October, 2004

Typically I won't write a review unless I have something good to say about a book. In this case, since the book is already exceedingly popular, I figure it can take some critical heat.

I read the book to find out why it was such a phenomenon. Usually such books, if empty, are at least a lot of fun. In this case emptiness met a terrible plot, absurd ideas, and very bad writing. To read a book like this, one needs to make a complete suspension of disbelief; unfortunately, I could not s...more Typically I won't write a review unless I have something good to say about a book. In this case, since the book is already exceedingly popular, I figure it can take some critical heat.

I read the book to find out why it was such a phenomenon. Usually such books, if empty, are at least a lot of fun. In this case emptiness met a terrible plot, absurd ideas, and very bad writing. To read a book like this, one needs to make a complete suspension of disbelief; unfortunately, I could not suspend my disbelief sufficiently to appreciate The Celestine Prophecy on any level.

The plot centers around a newly discovered manuscript found in Peru. The manuscript dates to the 7th century b.c.e. and is written in Aramaic, the semitic language which Christ spoke. How this Near Eastern text ended up in Peru is a mystery. The manuscript is a prophecy that declares a transformation to take place in our time (which is funny since no biblical prophecies ever held out `when' future events were to take place nor had any systems of time which we could make sense of). The transformation will ensue as people recognize the truth of the manuscript's `insights.' These insights, though they are supposed to be from Iron Age peoples, talk about such things as invisible energies, vibrations, the `Poor Me' psychological tactic, and many other such ideas and phrases from the 1960s and 1970s (Redfield's coming-to-age). One must realize, then, that there is definitely no ancient prophecy and this is a truly fictional account created as a vehicle for the author's ideas.

If the author's ideas were good, one could overlook such a ridiculous set of fictional anachronisms. His ideas, sadly, are not good. The bulk of these insights declare that all things are energy and that human beings will `evolve' (another truly out-of-place concept for the Iron Age) to higher levels as we begin to recognize these energies and live in such a way that they are naturally amplified (not draining each other's energies, thinking good thoughts, living with nature, etc.). The groundwork for this whole Gospel of Energy lies in a few early paragraphs about quantum mechanics, which the author certainly knows nothing about. I have seen this tactic pursued by many other would-be thinkers of our time-the use of theoretical physics to buttress spurious ideas about our energetic (spiritual?) nature. While it is one thing to declare that all is energy, we must recognize that this energy is very solidly crystallized (as it were) most of the time. The `energy' of a .38 caliber slug will not pass through the `energy' of your head without breaking a lot of molecular bonds along the way and leaving your cranium empty of the `energy' of your brain. At such a point, energy or no, one will be brainless; therefore dead. Energy--c'est tout! Even if you were to hope that certain thoughts were to `raise the vibrations' of your energy, the bullet's energy would still behave in a predictable manner. What we have when these latter day prophets attempt to use one thing which few understand (quantum mechanics/theoretical physics) to understand another thing which no one understands (man's `spiritual' nature), is the paradigmatic case of the blind using mirrors and flashlights to lead the blind. It is the hope of these ardent believers (for if they thought they would not need such beliefs) that their silly ideas will seem more pertinent if a few high-sounding phrases and ideas from physics are tossed about (Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, for instance, which, as one might expect, Redfield completely misunderstood).

One hopes, at the very least, that an author's intentions in writing a New Age novel are helpful and hopeful. The Celestine Prophecy, even if based on good intentions, is a literary and philosophic travesty. When people stop chasing rainbows and start working on the mundane `plane' of this world and take up good works then they are sure to enrich their `souls' and improve their community's prospects. Society will then take its next step. It is not through ancient stone temples, misunderstood physics, or 'good vibrations' that we will evolve; it is through looking within and taking the hard steps necessary to change ourselves, with our own efforts.

It is with great despair that one realizes what now passes for 'spiritual' insights and what the reading public yammers on about as a great work.(less)

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07/28/07

Xysea rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, spiritual

Read in January, 1993

recommended to Xysea by: my mother, a friend
recommends it for: curiosity seekers only

I remember when this book was all the rage. Like it was telling people something new, like it was real! It was a giant hoax, wasn't it? The movie was some god-awful Lifetime movie-ish crap, too, wasn't it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celesti...

This kind of book reminds me of The Secret, by Rhonda Byrnes. Rather hokey, new-agey philosophys that have a cultish vibe to them. Of course, this isn't technically a self-help book, but a lot of people treated it like one. ...more

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03/28/07

Tara rated it:

(review of isbn 044651862X)

Favorite Quotes

...the basic stuff of the universe, at its core, is looking like a kind of pure energy that is malleable to human intention and expectation in a way that defies our old mechanistic model of the universe--as though our expectation itself causes our energy to flow out into the world and affect other energy systems.

...The human perception of this energy first begins with a heightened sensitivity to beauty.

...We humans have always sought to increase...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

1 comment

03/21/08

Bryon rated it:

Read in March, 2005

I thought I liked The Celestine Prophecy as I was reading it. The "insights" that Redfield describes are generally good news to a hungry soul. I think that he is right (writing in the early '90s) about the collaborative mindset shift humans are experiencing. Trying to explain exactly what is going on is, to say the very least, quite a daunting task. I think that some people are aware of themselves and their surroundings now more than ever. If we are more in tune with energy fields, the...more

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02/26/08

David Clark rated it:

Read in December, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

A modern, areligious parable, The Celestine Prophecy offers instruction and direction on the path toward spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment in the thin disguise of an adventure story.

While cover story is clearly only a vehicle meant to convey the insights, it can be entertaining, and the insights themselves are, for the most part useful and applicable to everyday life. (Only three areas are hard for me to accept--the predictions of the ninth insight, which are very utopian and ...more

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12/09/07

Jamie, L. rated it:

Read in January, 1994

recommends it for: those beginning their spiritual search.

In many ways, The Celestine Prophecy was the book that opened the door to the New Age movement in books. Before this book, finding a book on spirituality meant reading "longhair" books that often spoke in ethereal terms. Finding any of these such books meant traveling to a large bookstore, or, by chance, coming upon a hide-away shop that specialized in such things. The Celestine Prophecy blew open the publishing door by staying on the bestseller lists for years. Why? Because it offered...more

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01/29/09

Sammy rated it:

Read in January, 2009

An unbelievable book, that can be read one of two ways, you can simply read it as an adventure story of a man struggling to understand what it is he wants from life, or, as I have done, you can read it as a self help book.

What a self help book it is. It really encourages you to look at yourself and how you see your life both its past present and future.

It gives you insights on how to take a more positive and active approach to your life. This book can change your li...more

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11/05/08

Cassie rated it:

I was told to read this passed down book from a good friend of mine. As she gave this book to me she said, "This book changed my outlook on life and I hope it does for you too." The Celestine Prophecy is a book that is not only inspirational but also motivational too. As I read the uniquely written passages about how one can percieve things differently in life, I felt that this book can turn a negative perspective into a positive by just reading the first Insight. This book is about di...more

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07/14/07

Mark rated it:

recommends it for: people who are searching for meaning...maybe

I started off really liking this book and thinking that I agreed with a lot of what it had to say. Sure, the story itself might not be true, but the author has some good ideas about why we should be good to each other.
Then it made a severe left turn not only into very religious territory, but also made some pretty wrong assumptions as to why a civilization "disappeared"...when they really kind of didn't.
Like Dan Brown's books, it has some interesting things to say, but, ult...more

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05/14/08

Brandi Denson rated it:

(review of isbn 1568951132)

Read in June, 1995

recommended to Brandi by: Tim Bradford
recommends it for: 12-17 year olds exploring spirituality

This was an awesome book to read in high school. A very easy read, and the spiritual insights can be applied to any faith or religion.

The crappy part is how incredibly commercial the book has gotten. The movie was ridiculously bad, the following insights are contrived, and all the experiental guides and meditation books are a waste of money.

This book was more relevant and special when it stood alone, before James Redfield recognized it for a money-making machine.
...more

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quotes from this book

"...the basic stuff of the universe, at its core, is looking like a kind of pure energy that is malleable to human intention and expectation in a way that defies our old mechanistic model of the universe--as though our expectation itself causes our energy to flow out into the world and affect other energy systems." More quotes...