The Celestine Prophecy
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Jul 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| wavebreaker |
09 Jul 2003 |
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The book The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield was mentioned in another thread and I thought I'd start a new thread on it, because I'm curious what people think about this book that was such a hype years ago.
I only read it a few months ago, and this is what I wrote about it in my journal:
So now I've finally read it. And to be honest, I'm not very enthusiastic about it.
First of all, I didn't think it was very well written. It didn't really read like a story, more like, how shall I put it, a list of events. I have the impression that the main goal of the author was to bring across his nine insights, and that he built the story around it later.
My main objection to the story, however, is the main character. Somewhere in the beginning of the book, it is stated that people don't get to see each insight until they are ready for it and several characters are introduced that have been studying the manuscript for quite a while and have only seen a few insights. But the main character, who doesn't seem to be very open to the insights and keeps having difficulties incorporating them, gets to see all the insights in a very short period of time. He doesn't seem ready for them at all.
As for the insights themselves: the first few made perfect sense to me. I too believe in synchronicity and in energy existing in every object and playing an important role in our everyday life and in our interactions with each other. So nothing new or shocking there. However, the later insights sounded a bit too utopian to me and when they started talking about people becoming invisible to others after reaching a certain level, I gave up... ;)
All in all, it was a nice book to read, with some interesting viewpoints. But IMHO not really deserving the hype it caused when it was first published.
I later talked to someone who briefly met James Redfield before he had published the book, and this person said that Redfield didn't make up the insights himself, but that they were all experiences he collected from visits to shamans etc. And that he did indeed weave the story around them, as I suspected.
I think that Redfield maybe aimed his book at the wrong target audience. He chose to target the book toward a large general audience, but I feel like many of them read it as an "interesting" story and then put it aside. I know of people who were very much impressed by it at the time it came out, but I've never heard them talk about it since. ;)
I guess if he had chosen to target it at a more specific audience, ie. people who are interested in actually incorporating these ideas into their lifestyle, and he would have concentrated on the insights and not added the stupid story, his message might have been appreciated much more. But then his bank account wouldn't have filled up the way it has now, and maybe that was his main goal to start with... ;)
So what do you all think?
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| Logiatrix |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Pretty much the same opinion as yours here, TL.
I really wanted to like this book and hold the same enthusiasm for it that made it a bestseller, but I just wasn't impressed. Like you, I was able to critique the work sans the hype, and I realized that it actually wasn't THAT good!
It's just another "Simply Abundant Conversation With God About The Seven Spiritual Agreements While Eating Chicken Soup."
Basically, I am wary of any book that becomes a desk calendar.
:D
Tauni
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| LittleWing |
09 Jul 2003 |
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i have not read the actual book - but someone bought me the study guide - and i got a good idea of all the concepts through this. i found it really fun - as there were lots of exercises - but then one must be careful not to over analyse.
some things happen for a reason - some things just happen.
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| Marion |
09 Jul 2003 |
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I read it as well, and was not impressed.
Okay, this is not relevant, but to me, rather funny. At one point the main character is sitting on a hillside watching the night sky. There is a full moon. And he says to himself sort of wonderingly, "And just to think that on the other side of the earth this would be a new moon". Okay, for those of you who don't want to work out the geometry or who never thought about it, the moon is always the same phase from earth. If it is full when it is up on one side of the earth, it is full when it is up on the other side.
I like Tauni's alternate title "Simply Abundant Conversation With God About The Seven Spiritual Agreements While Eating Chicken Soup."
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| Moongold |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Tauni,
Where do you get these wonderful quotes from...?
Another of yours recently..'Resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die...' I feel like folowing you around to catch some more.
:)
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| Silverlotus |
09 Jul 2003 |
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I never got around to reading this book when it was popular. I saw it a few times in the bargain books at the local bookstores, but I was never moved to pick it up. There was always something better to read. But, you all have peaked my interest. I'm going to pick it up for the library and give it a read. :)
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| LittleWing |
09 Jul 2003 |
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'the alchamist' is the book for me
i have read it 10 times and still get something from it
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| Diana |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Never got past page 25 or so of this book. I felt it was a waste of time.
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| SingingTarot |
09 Jul 2003 |
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I read this book about 4 years ago.
I remember being soooooooo disappointed by the story. What a lousy lousy plot.
However the prinicples taught through the book really appealed to me.
But still, it was a disappointement.
Personally, I think the "Alchemist" does it much better for me, but MY book is: "Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East" by Baird Spalding. This one would be the one I would take with me on a deserted island!
Alice
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| LittleWing |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Originally posted by SingingTarot
MY book is: "Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East" by Baird Spalding. This one would be the one I would take with me on a deserted island!
I will keep this book in mind. I am starting another thread on books in spirituality so we do not confuse this one.
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| Minderwiz |
09 Jul 2003 |
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I've read it - a couple of years ago. I read it all the way through and I think the events are supposed to illustrate the points rather than being a novel.
However for a 'secret' document there is little secret in it - most of the ideas are fairly standard ones and really it didn't do an awful lot for me. Several friends who read it raved about it - one in particular started giving lessons on it!
I find a little bit of cynicism coming out here - was it meant to 'inform the world' or to cobble together some 'New Age' and Jungian ideas in order to make a fast buck?
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| SingingTarot |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Little Wing,
If you wanna start threads on books, how about "Mutant Message down under" (very much likely to start a polemic!) and "The Alchemist"?
This would be soooo fun!
And, and, and how about "The road less traveled" and "A course in miracles"?
Should I find some more?
*messing with the book shelves*
That sounds exciting to have everyone's opinion on these books!
Alice
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| joya250 |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Like many it seems, I read it, dug it at the time, and then moved on. I read it several years ago now, and I only remember the gist. Something like there is no such thing as coincidence -- and that the right people, things, places, etc. appear when we are ready. My best girlfriend read it around the same time I did, and to this day when something "coincidental" happens we laugh and yell "Celestine!" in unison. :) So, what did I get from the book? haha, little more than a corny catch-phrase.
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| Butterfly |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Bunch of baloney! I'm still amazed when people rave about how life changing this book is. I remember Alissa using a phrase once that really stuck in my mind- new age bliss ninnies. I think it could be applied here!
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| wavebreaker |
09 Jul 2003 |
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Originally posted by Minderwiz
I find a little bit of cynicism coming out here - was it meant to 'inform the world' or to cobble together some 'New Age' and Jungian ideas in order to make a fast buck? Seems to me like it was the latter, and he certainly succeeded! ;)
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| truthsayer |
10 Jul 2003 |
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i read CP 9 years ago. i found the insights interesting but thought the story itself stank. the speaker is never identified by name. i would be embarrassed to publish it if it were me but it may have achieved what redfield was aiming for. the second book "the 10th insight" was even stupider than the first. so much so that i quit reading it halfway thru. i didn't need to know the 10th insight that badly. it's like what kiama calls fluffy bunny stuff even there is some real wisdom in the book. i wish he had just written a straight non-fiction book but then would it have garnered as much hooplah over it?
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| wavebreaker |
11 Jul 2003 |
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Originally posted by truthsayer
the second book "the 10th insight" was even stupider than the first. so much so that i quit reading it halfway thru. I read that one too (I had bought it together with the first book). But I didn't enjoy it either, it was just a heap of nonsense...
i wish he had just written a straight non-fiction book but then would it have garnered as much hooplah over it? Exactly... If he had written a non-fiction book, he would have reached a far smaller audience and his bank account wouldn't have profited the way it has now...
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| Baby Owl |
11 Jul 2003 |
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I have to say I agree with everyone else here. People kept urging me to read the book because they knew I was into astrology and "psychic" types of things. As others have mentioned, I found it interesting but not "awesome" by any means.
Baby Owl
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| Alissa |
11 Jul 2003 |
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When this book was HUGE, I was working at the library and I read it. And I agree totally tarotlady, it's a piece of crap, in my opinion.
I couldn't believe that so many were taken with this poorly written "novel." What a waste of trees.
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| Alissa |
11 Jul 2003 |
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Originally posted by Butterfly
I remember Alissa using a phrase once that really stuck in my mind- new age bliss ninnies. I think it could be applied here! Oh, girlfriend you hit the nail on the head! Full of bliss-ninny poppycock, isn't it?
(p.s. actually, i borrowed the phrase long ago myself, but it's a damn good one and i've used it plenty enough to make it mine by now too, and now so can you ;))
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| anjocoxo |
13 Jul 2003 |
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Well, I haven't read that one, but I bought one book by Osho, and I thought it was a bunch of crap, it was about intuition, but it truly didn't enlightened me... don't know if anyone else has read any of his books.
About the CP, seems to me that many authors are using New Age (especially "new age bliss ninnies", LOL) to make their bank accounts go larger and larger.
Anjo
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The The Celestine Prophecy thread was originally posted on 09 Jul 2003 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.
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