Trices Group Book Review Journal

Celestine Prophecy, The

Redfield, James

by:

Warner Books

Publisher:

Location:

1993

Cover:

Hardcover

Type:

Lynard Barnes

reviewed by:

02/05/1995

Comment:

Good Story.

Republished from Crushies Book Reviews - Volume II Issue No. 2 - February 1995 - Copyright 1995:

It's new to me. Maybe not to you. The story is supposed to be true. But there is no way to prove it. You must rely upon the word of the author. It's called an adventure. I've read two thus far and The Celestine Prophecy is the better of the two. Unfortunately, I don't believe a word of it. But….

It is a really good story.

The author goes to a restaurant and meets an old friend. She tells him about a mysterious manuscript--an ancient artifact found in South America that reveals the ten great secrets of life. Intrigued, our author takes off for Peru, South America, high adventure and learning.
In a sense, the basic premise of The Celestine Prophecy stems from the philosophical foundations of Carl Jung. It purports to show that there is an over-riding order to life. Coincidence, serendipity, fate--there is a constant waxing and waning of structure and purpose in the individual's life, cresting with faith in the very process of life itself, and plummeting to fear, doubt and emptiness when the individual breaks the connection with life and stands isolated in ego.

The adventure of The Celestine Prophecy is meant to be both physical and spiritual. The physical adventure is obvious. For instance, our hero meets a fellow traveler on the plane trip down to South America who just happens to also be in search of the mysterious manuscript. After landing, when our hero goes to the hotel at which the traveler is staying, he is met by the sound of flying lead and eventually the sight of the fellow traveler racing toward him yelling the simple word "run". Refreshingly enough, our hero does. It is a masterful scene setting the tone for everything else in the story. There are no super-
heros here.

In his search for the insights provided by the manuscript, the hero meets, almost by coincidence, others who are in the same search. The more significance our hero assigns to these coincidences, the more coincidences seem to occur. It is part of the adventure. It is the spiritual aspect of the adventure. The allegory of mass-man in search of meaning in life

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can not be overlooked. It is presented artfully in The Celestine Prophecy. But just as there are those in search of insight, there are those whose minds are closed by the security of knowing rather than questioning. The villains in other words.

It is here, in drawing these villains, that The Celestine Prophecy may irritate some. The nefarious intent of the villains is not decisively sinister by any means.

Early on we learn that the hierarchy of the local Catholic Church is determined to keep the manuscript secret. Indeed, the church has marshaled the forces of the state on its side. So our hero and cohorts must search for the manuscript and attempt to avoid the forces of the church at the same time. The church, in the persons of the priests and bishops, see the insights of the manuscript as subversive. The author does not allow the intent of the church to be fully developed or reasonably justified. For instance, in an interrogation scene when our hero is temporarily captured, one of the clerics says that the church is opposed to publication of the manuscript because it undermines the authority of parents. Within the context of the struggle, it is an irrelevant argument. The real issue is the authority of the church. But it strains our credibility to believe that the church would go to such extraordinary lengths to suppress a manuscript aimed at so few. If there is a problem with The Celestine Prophecy, it is the circumvented perspective of the insights it purports to uncover.

When I hear the phrase, "your energy field"--which luckily I don't hear too often--I am reminded that the word "moronic" is difficult for me to pronounce--luckily. This "energy field" stuff pops up with incredible frequency in The Celestine Prophecy, especially as our hero uncovers more and more of the ten insights. It's not that there is anything intrinsically wrong with "energy fields". But the concept as employed by new-age devotees resounds with a certain immaturity. The human body and mind pulsates with so much energy--from thermal, to wave, to radiant--that it seems a purposeful disregard of reality to utter something as moronic as "your energy field is low today". But of course, if you are new-age, you can't use the old-age word "aurora". Still, there must be a better phrase for new-agers to get across the idea that someone is in the dumps.
If you can get past the human "energy field" references, you will definitely enjoy a good story.

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