Book Report: The Celestine Prophesy by James Redfield (c) 1993

The Celestine Prophesy by James Redfield (c) 1993

This book of pop-philosophy found the perfect formula to rocket it to a New York Times Bestseller-- it's a novel, full of interesting, relatable characters who go off on a quest to discover the "9 Insights of the Celestine Prophesy." It's exciting, fast paced and full of movement. The Insights talk of a coming worldwide spiritual awakening, what to expect, and how to deal with it when it comes. It's very inspirational, and some of the Insights warn that there will be difficult times ahead, but it's all part of the grand scheme.

Clearly a lot of people loved this book and the sequels, and found real, practical value in what the author offered, and I think that's great. And if you liked this book, or you're curious to read it, by all means do so and form your own opinions.

SPOILER ALERT-- GROUCHFEST TO FOLLOW!!!

A lot of the books in my collection are pretty cheesy, as you've probably noticed already. Some were obviously banged out to make a buck, others were earnestly written by true believers. I usually find something useful in even the least plausible of them. I generally try to keep my opinions, good or bad, out of the reports, since other people may have different perspectives and tastes. While there is surely useful stuff in this particular book, the entire thing really rubbed me the wrong way. 

Right off the top, the Nine Insights of the Celestine Prophesy, that they have to go questing all over the world to find, are from an ancient Mayan Text from 600BC., which was written in Aramaic and found in Peru! NONE of that makes any sense, and no later explanation --I'm guessing there will be in some later volume-- can excuse this. Mayans are a Central and South American culture. Aramaic is a Middle Eastern Language. I'm not sure if either of those was around in 600BC, and they weren't in the same sides of the Earth. Even if they were, it probably wouldn't be Peru, because the Incas were already there, not the Mayans or the middle Easterners. On top of that, it seems like every character in the book, including random strangers, already knows the secrets, or knows where to find them, EXCEPT our heroes, which makes the narrative really wooden and simple. 

For what it's worth, Packaging the core Insights in the form of an adventure novel is brilliant marketing, but the whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way.