The Celestine Prophecy

The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure is a 1993 novel by James Redfield. It is a first-person narrative of a spiritual awakening, with the main teaching being that world is currently undergoing an enormous shift in consciousness. The book spent 165 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.

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He wouldn't reveal his name but he agreed to answer all my questions... He said the Manuscript dates back to about 600 B.C. It predicts a massive transformation in human society... It's not religious in nature, but it is spiritual.

We're discovering something new about human life on this planet, about what our existence means, and according to the priest, this knowledge will alter human culture dramatically. p. 6

The First Insight occurs when we become conscious of the coincidences in our lives.

Coincidences are happening more and more frequently and that, when they do, they strike us as beyond what would be expected by pure chance.

They feel destined, as though our lives had been guided by some unexplained force. The experience induces a feeling of mystery and excitement and, as a result, we feel more alive. p. 8

More people every day are convinced that this mysterious movement is real and that it means something, that something else is going on beneath everyday life. This awareness is the First Insight... a reconsideration of the inherent mystery that surrounds our individual lives on this planet. p.8

We are experiencing these mysterious coincidences, and even though we don't understand them yet, we know they are real. We are sensing again, as in childhood, that there is another side of life that we have yet to discover, some other process operating behind the scenes. p. 8

Certainly this consciousness has been experienced and described before... the Manuscript says the number of people who are conscious of such coincidences would begin to grow dramatically... He said that this growth would continue... we would reach a specific level of such individuals a level I think of as a critical mass. p.9

The Manuscript predicts... that once we reach this critical mass, the entire culture will begin to take these coincidental experiences seriously.

We will wonder, in mass, what mysterious process underlies human life on this planet. And it will be this question, asked at the same time by enough people, that will allow the other insights to also come into consciousness because according to the Manuscript, when a sufficient number of individuals seriously question what's going on in life, we will begin to find out.

The scholars who first translated the Manuscript were absolutely convinced of its authenticity. Mainly because it was written in Aramaic, the same language in which much of the Old Testament was written. Aramaic in South America? How did it get there in 600 B.C? The priest didn't know... Does his church support the Manuscript?.. Most of the clergy were bitterly trying to suppress the Manuscript. p. 9

Did he say why most church officials were fighting against it? Yes, because it challenges the completeness of their religion. Apparently the... insights extend some of the church's traditional ideas in a way that alarms the church elders, who think things are fine the way they are. p. 9

The evening had been interesting, but I was still skeptical about the whole idea of a cultural transformation. Like many people, I had been caught up in the social idealism of the Sixties and Seventies, and even in the spiritual interests of the Eighties. But it was hard to judge what was really happening. What kind of new information could possibly alter the entire human world? It all sounded too idealistic and far-fetched. After all, humans had been alive on this planet for a long time. Why would we suddenly gain insight into existence now, at this late date? I gazed out at the water for a few more minutes, then turned off the lights and went into the bedroom to read. p. 13

Suddenly you are in the midst of an outright rebellion. A group led by Martin Luther is calling for a complete break from papal Christianity. The churchmen are corrupt, they say, demanding an end to the churchmen's reign over the minds of the people. New churches are being formed based on the idea that each person should be able to have access to the scriptures personally and to interpret them as they wish, with no middlemen... the rebellion succeeds. The churchmen begin to lose. For centuries these men defined reality, and now, before your eyes, they are losing their credibility. Consequently, the whole world is being thrown into question. p. 19

The clear consensus about the nature of the universe and about humankind's purpose here, based as it was on the churchmen's description, is collapsing... You have grown accustomed to having an authority in your life to define reality, and without that external direction you feel confused and lost. If the churchmen's description of reality and the reason for human existence is wrong, you ask, then what is right? p.19

Four centuries ago... We shook off our feeling of being lost by taking matters into our own hands, by focusing on conquering the Earth and using its resources to better our situation, and only now, as we approach the end of the millennium can we see what happened. Our focus gradually became a preoccupation. We totally lost ourselves in creating a secular security, an economic security, to replace the spiritual one we had lost. The question of why we were alive, of what was actually going on here spiritually, was slowly pushed aside and repressed altogether. p. 20

The Manuscript predicts that... human beings will begin to grasp these insights sequentially, one insight then another, as we move from where we are now to a completely spiritual culture on Earth. p. 31

The transformation is beginning with the First Insight, and according to the priest, this insight always surfaces unconsciously at first, as a profound sense of restlessness...

According to the Manuscript, we're beginning to glimpse an alternative kind of experience... moments in our lives that feel different somehow, more intense and inspiring. But we don't know what this experience is or how to make it last, and when it ends we're left feeling dissatisfied and restless with a life that seems ordinary again.

We're all looking for more fulfillment in our lives, and we won't put up with anything that seems to bring us down. This restless searching is what's behind the 'me first' attitude that has characterized recent decades, and it's affecting everyone, from Wall Street to street gangs... And when it comes to relationships, we're so demanding that we're making them near impossible.

While most of society's recent ills, can be traced to this restlessness and searching, this problem is temporary, and will come to an end.

We're finally becoming conscious of what we're actually looking for, of what this other, more fulfilling experience really is. When we grasp it fully, we'll have attained the First Insight....

Food is the first way of gaining energy... But in order to totally absorb energy in food, the food must be appreciated... Taste is the doorway. You must appreciate taste. This is the reason for prayer before eating. It is not just about being thankful, it is to make eating a holy experience, so the energy from the food can enter your body... deliberate appreciation of food was the real purpose behind the normal religious custom of being thankful, with the result being a higher energy absorption of the food.

After personal energy is increased in this way, you become more sensitive to energy in all things ... and then you learn to take this energy into yourself without eating. Everything around us... has energy. But each has its own special kind. That is why some places increase energy more than others. It depends on how your shape fits with the energy there. p. 71

I felt light and secure and connected.. Like the whole landscape was part of me... Love... I guess I felt a love for everything... You do not make yourself love... You allow love to enter you. But to do this you must position your mind by remembering what it felt like and try to feel it again. p. 72

When you appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of things... you receive energy. When you get to a level where you feel love, then you can send the energy back just by willing it so. p. 73

The role of love has been misunderstood for a long time. Love is not something we should do to be good or to make the world a better place out of some abstract moral responsibility, or because we should give up our hedonism. Connecting with energy feels like excitement, then euphoria, and then love. Finding enough energy to maintain that state of love certainly helps the world, but it most directly helps us. p.75

Leaning back against a tree, I cleared my mind and spent several minutes looking around. The morning was bright and breezy and I watched the wind as it whipped the branches above my head. The air felt refreshing as I took in several deep breaths. p. 76

The Eighth Insight... is about using energy in a new way when relating to people in general, but it begins at the beginning, with children... We should view them as they really are, as end points in evolution that lead us forward. But in order to learn to evolve they need our energy on a constant basis, unconditionally.

Haven't you ever been around someone who makes you feel guilty when you're in their presence, even though you know there is no reason to feel this way?... it's because you have entered the drama world of a poor me. p.81

Most of the people I talk with haven't even heard of the Manuscript. They come up here and are entranced by the energy. That alone makes them re-think their lives...They seem to find me. p. 84

Cardinal Sebastian... Apparently... is using his influence with the government to increase the military pressure against the Manuscript. He has always preferred to work quietly through the government rather than force a division within the church. Now he is intensifying his efforts... Except for the few priests of the Northern Council and a few others like Julia and Wil, no one else seems to have copies any longer... the scientists at Viciente... the government has closed it down. All the scientists were arrested and their research data was confiscated... that research wasn't accepted by most scientists anyway. The government is apparently selling the idea that these people were breaking the law... they're keeping it very quiet, the government is intensifying its crackdown.

How can you remain so calm? What if they come crashing in here and arrest all of us? They gazed at me patiently, then Father Sanchez spoke. Don't confuse calmness with carelessness. Our peaceful countenance is a measure of how well we are connected with the energy. We stay connected because it is the best thing for us to do, regardless of the circumstances. You understand that, don't you?

Staying connected... will be easier once you get clear on who you are.

How do I start getting clear about myself?

The process of finding your true spiritual identity involves looking at your whole life as one long story, trying to find a higher meaning. Begin by asking yourself this question: why was I born to this particular family? What might have been the purpose for that? p. 86

You're looking for the meaning... [your mother's] life has for you, the reason you were born to her, what you were there to learn. Every human being whether they are conscious of it or not illustrates with their lives how he or she thinks a human being is supposed to live. You must try to discover what she taught you and at the same time what about her life could have been done better. What you would have changed about your mother is part of what you yourself are working on... how you would improve on your father's life is the other part.

We are not merely the physical creation of our parents; we are also the spiritual creation. You were born to these two people and their lives had an irrevocable effect on who you are... you were born.. to take a higher perspective on what they stood for. Your path is about discovering a truth that is a higher synthesis of what these two people believed. p. 88

You can go to sleep and never think again of what we have discussed. You can go right back into your old drama, or you can wake up tomorrow and hold on to this new idea of who you are... If you view your life as one story, from birth to right now, you'll be able to see how you have been working on this question all along. You'll be able to see how you came to be here... and what you should do next.

The worst thing that can be done to children is to drain their energy while correcting them. This is what creates control dramas in them, as you already know. But these learned manipulations on the child's part can be avoided if the adults give them all the energy they need no matter what the situation. That is why they should always be included in conversations, especially conversations about them.

Wil's drama was to be aloof... each of his parents was an interrogator and each had a strong philosophy they wanted Wil to adopt. Wil's father was a German novelist who argued that the ultimate destiny of the human race was to perfect itself... His wife was a Peruvian who grew up in America and was educated there. She was a writer too, but she was basically Eastern in her philosophical beliefs. She held that life was about reaching an inner enlightenment, a higher consciousness marked by peace of mind and detachment from the things of the world. According to her, life was not about perfection; it was about letting go of the need to perfect anything, to go anywhere... These two people had prepared Wil to work on integrating the main philosophical differences between Eastern and Western cultures.

When Wil began to discover the insights, his whole life began to flow. p. 91

Each of us must look at the significant turns in our lives and reinterpret them in light of our evolutionary question... Try to perceive the sequence of interests, important friends, coincidences that have occurred in your life. Weren't they leading you somewhere? p. 92

Do you remember the feeling of buoyancy that you experienced on the ridge top?...To regain this buoyancy, I try to breathe in the energy... Just hearing his procedure was increasing my connection. Everything around me had increased in presence and beauty.

Even the rocks seemed to have a whitish glow and Sanchez's energy field was wide and blue. He was now taking deep, conscious breaths, holding each about five seconds before exhaling.

When we visualize... that each breath pulls energy into us and fills us like a balloon, we actually become more energized and feel much lighter and more buoyant. After I breath in the energy,... I check to see if I have the right emotion... love is not an intellectual concept or a moral imperative or anything else. It is a background emotion that exists when one is connected to the energy available in the universe, which, of course, is the energy of God.

The words you have habitually willed through your head in an attempt to logically control events, stop when you give up your control drama. As you fill up with inner energy, other kinds of thoughts enter your mind from a higher part of yourself.

When you have acquired enough energy, you are ready to consciously engage evolution, to start it flowing, to produce the coincidences that will lead you forward.

Sooner or later coincidences will occur to move you in the direction indicated by the intuition.

It explains how we can aid others as they bring us the answers we seek. And further, it describes a whole new ethic governing the way humans should treat each other in order to facilitate everyone's evolution.

Let your perception of beauty and iridescence lead your way. Places and people who have answers for you will appear more luminous and attractive. p. 100

Remember to stop as often as necessary to re-connect your energy. Stay full, stay in a state of love. Remember that once you achieve this state of love, nothing nor anyone can pull more energy from you than you can replace. In fact, the energy flowing out of you creates a current that pulls energy into you at the same rate. You can never run out. But you must stay conscious of this process in order for it to work. This is especially important when you interact with people.

It's hard for me to get the love flowing in a situation like this... But not to do so is to harm yourself... Your body is vibrating at a certain level. If you let your energy get too low your body suffers. That is the relationship between stress and disease. Love is the way we keep our vibration up. It keeps us healthy. It is that important. p. 111

You should never take responsibility for more children than you can give attention to. p. 118

Marjorie was talking freely and laughing. Sitting beside her filled me with warm love. p. 122

The idea of an addiction, as used in the Manuscript, explains why power struggles arise in romantic relationships. We've always wondered what causes the bliss and euphoria of love to end, to suddenly turn into conflict, and now we know. It is a result of the flow of energy between the individuals involved. When love first happens, the two individuals are giving each other energy unconsciously and both people feel buoyant and elated. That's the incredible high we all call being 'in love.' Unfortunately, once they expect this feeling to come from the other person, they cut themselves off from the energy in the universe and begin to rely even more on the energy from each other only now there doesn't seem to be enough and so they stop giving each other energy and fall back into their dramas in an attempt to control each other and force the other's energy their way. At this point the relationship degenerates into the usual power struggle. p. 123

The Ninth Insight explains how human culture will change in the next millennium as a result of conscious evolution. It describes a significantly different way of life.

The Manuscript predicts that we humans will voluntarily decrease our population so that we all may live in the most powerful and beautiful places on the Earth. But remarkably, many more of these areas will exist in the future, because we will intentionally let the forests go uncut so that they can mature and build energy.

According to the Ninth Insight, by the middle of the next millennium, he continued, humans will typically live among five hundred year old trees and carefully tended gardens, yet within easy travel distance of an urban area of incredible technological wizardry.

The means of survival food stuffs and clothing and transportation-will all be totally automated and at everyone's disposal. Our needs will be completely met without the exchange of any currency, yet also without any overindulgence or laziness.

Guided by their intuitions, everyone will know precisely what to do and when to do it, and this will fit harmoniously with the actions of others. No one will consume excessively because we will have let go of the need to possess and to control for security.

The Ninth depicts a human world where everyone has slowed down and become more alert, ever vigilant for the next meaningful encounter that comes along. We will know that it could occur anywhere: on a path that winds through a forest, for instance, or on a bridge that traverses some canyon. p. 143

Can you visualize human encounters that have this much meaning and significance? Think how it would be for two people meeting for the first time. Each will first observe the other's energy field, exposing any manipulations... They will vibrate at a new level and will thereafter touch others in a way not possible before their meeting. p.143

The Manuscript says our natural pursuit of the truth will lead us there.

Think about what has occurred already in this millennium. During the Middle Ages we lived in a simple world of good and evil, defined by the churchmen. But during the Renaissance we broke free. We knew there had to be more to man's situation in the universe than the churchmen knew, and we wanted the full story.

The real reason we spent five centuries creating material supports for human life was to set the stage for something else, a way of life that returns the mystery to existence.

That is what the information now returning from the scientific method indicates: mankind is on this planet to consciously evolve. And as we learn to evolve and pursue our particular path, truth by truth, the Ninth Insight says the overall culture will transform in a very predictable way. p.143

As you know, the scriptural notion of tithing is interpreted most commonly as an injunction to give ten percent of ones income to a church. The idea behind this is that whatever we give will be returned many times. But the Ninth Insight explains that giving is really a universal principle of support, not just for churches, but for everyone. When we give, we receive in return because of the way energy interacts in the universe. Remember, when we project energy into someone this creates a void in ourselves which, if we are connected, fills up again. Money works exactly the same way. The Ninth Insight says that once we begin to give constantly, we will always have more coming in than we could possibly give away. p. 144

Evolve! Evolve! Listen to yourself, Father, you have always fought against the influence of evolution. What has happened to you?

Yes, I fought against the idea of evolution as a replacement for God, as a way to explain the universe without reference to God. But now I see that the truth is a synthesis of the scientific and religious world views. The truth is that evolution is the way God created, and is still creating. p. 151

The Manuscript describes the progress of succeeding generations as an evolution of understanding, an evolution toward a higher spirituality and vibration. Each generation incorporates more energy and accumulates more truth and then passes that status on to the people of the next generation, who extend it further.

Isn't the story of the scriptures a story of people learning to receive God's energy and will within? Isn't that what the early prophets led the people to do in the Old Testament? And isn't that receptivity to God's energy within what culminated in the life of a carpenter's son, to the extent that we say God, himself, descended to Earth? Isn't the story of the New Testament... the story of a group of people being filled with some kind of energy that transformed them? Didn't Jesus, himself, say that what he did, we could do also, and more? We've never really taken that idea seriously, not until now. We're only now grasping what Jesus was talking about, where he was leading us. The Manuscript clarifies what he meant! How to do it! p. 151

The Ninth Insight is the insight of knowing where we are headed. All the other insights create a picture of the world as one of incredible beauty and energy, and of ourselves as increasing our connection with and thus seeing this beauty.

The more beauty we can see, the more we evolve. The more we evolve, the higher we vibrate.

The Ninth Insight shows us that ultimately, our increased perception and vibration will open us up to a Heaven that is already before us. We just can't see it yet.

Whenever we doubt our own path, or lose sight of the process, we must remember what we are evolving toward, what the process of living is all about. Reaching heaven on Earth is why we are here. And now we know how it can be done... how it will be done.

As we humans continue to increase our vibration, an amazing thing will begin to happen. Whole groups of people, once they reach a certain level, will suddenly become invisible to those who are still vibrating at a lower level... As Julia talked I noticed her face and body changing somewhat... She looked as though she were made of pure light, glowing from within. I looked at Sanchez. He appeared the same way. To my amazement, everything appeared this way: the pyramids, the stone under our feet, the surrounding forest, my hands. The beauty I was able to perceive had increased beyond anything I had experienced before...

When humans begin to raise their vibrations to a level where others cannot see them... it will signal that we are crossing the barrier between this life and the other world from which we came and to which we go after death. This conscious crossing over is the path shown by the Christ. He opened up to the energy until he was so light he could walk on water. He transcended death right here on Earth... His life demonstrated how to do this, and if we connect with the same source we can head the same way, step by step... most individuals will reach this level of vibration during the third millennium, and in groups consisting of the people with whom they are most connected. But some cultures in history have already achieved the vibration. According to the Ninth Insight, the Mayans crossed over together. p. 154

Before she could finish, a burst of machine-gun fire ripped up the stone tiles by our feet. We all dived to the ground, our hands raised. No one spoke as the soldiers came and confiscated the papers and took each of us in a different direction. p. 155

Fear lowers one's vibration tremendously.

The Ninth Insight says that while some individuals may cross over sporadically, a general rapture will not occur until we have abolished fear, until we can maintain a sufficient vibration in all situations. p. 155

After a while, the conversations became almost cordial. Everyone began to treat me as a guiltless victim of this plot, as a gullible Yankee who had read too many adventure tales and found himself lost in a foreign country. And because my energy was so low, I possibly would have become vulnerable to this brainwashing, had something else not occurred. I was suddenly transferred from the military base where I was being held to a governmental compound near the airport in Lima-a compound in which Father Carl was also being detained. The coincidence brought back some of my lost confidence. p. 156

Connecting with energy is something humans have to be open to and talking about and expecting, otherwise the whole human race can go back to pretending that life is about having power over others and exploiting the planet. If we go back to doing this, then we won't survive. Each of us must do what we can to get this message out. p. 157

Quotes about

This [The Celestine Prophecy] just opened my heart and made me realize, ‘Try to love a little bit more.’ When I try to console people and tell them words of wisdom that I’ve learned, a lot of people feel so much better. Some people say, ‘Shut the hell up.’ I just send the love and think, ‘Someday you’ll see.'
- Jenny McCarthy: Dating Dame, By Jancee Dunn, Rolling Stone, (26 June 2012)

According to The Celestine Prophecy, in the future humankind will evolve into a spiritually enlightened culture of peace and harmony... Einstein is on the side of The Celestine Prophecy, we're told. Most scientists are not sufficiently evolved to carry on his work. After all, they would not take seriously the assertion that in the future human beings will be raised "to higher and higher vibrations." Its message is that there is no such thing as a coincidence; there are no chance encounters, no arbitrary events, no reasons for existential angst. There is only cosmic synchronicity, to which we become attuned as we evolve spiritually... According to The Celestine Prophecy, in the future humankind will evolve into a spiritually enlightened culture of peace and harmony. All these insights into the meaning of everything are delivered in what the flap copy for The Celestine Prophecy calls "a parable filled with vital truths"--a description bound to lead an unsophisticated reader to believe that this book is fact, not fiction... For people who believe in angels, to be sure, believing in The Celestine Prophecy isn't much of a leap--angel books tell similar truths... In The Celestine Prophecy the primary villains are not scientists but priests. In near-death-experience accounts God, or the "Being of Light" who greets us when we die, is nonjudgmental. Like a wise but indulgent parent, He, She, or It smiles ruefully upon us when we review our sins, knowing that we will do better next time.
- The Latest Fashion in Irrationality by Wendy Kaminer in The Atlantic (July 1996)

The Celestine Prophecy released [when I was] around 15/16 years old... was the first Spiritual book I read, and it validated how I was thinking and feeling. It helped me see all events had a meaning and the higher intelligence I sought comfort in was in fact real. This thinking, in essence to not be a victim, definitely helped me emotionally survive my father’s suicide at age 19 and decide at 21 I wasn’t going down the path of destruction that I was currently on at that time.
- Use your free will and take action” to write a book that sparks a movement, an interview with authors Sara Connell & Julie Ashby, ThriveGlobal, (15 May 2019)

James Redfield's breakout 1993 novel, The Celestine Prophecy, brought forward Eastern philosophies and New Age spirituality to a primarily American audience. The book used a traditional narrative to transmit concepts of spiritual awakening, energetic fields and synchronicity to the reader. In 1993, these concepts were still emerging, and have since become hugely popular in mainstream books, movies and music. The book spent an incredible 165 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller's List, making it one of the most successful books of all time. It has sold over 50 million copies to date, and established James Redfield as a millionaire.
- 10 Authors Who Made Over A Million With Their First Book, The Richest, (26 July 2019)

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