The Celestine Prophecy

After a strong recommendation from a dear friend, I read James Redfield’s ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ (1994). I aim to read regularly but I’ve rarely completed a book from start to finish. And if I did, it felt like I was searching for something. Reading this book was like reading Deltora Quest for the first time in my childhood. ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ consolidated a lot of my last few years of active self-development and gave me reassurance to trust in the universe’s ways. Life is determined in an instant…

 The following writing serves one main purpose: to further intimately connect the book with my own life’s relevance and insights.

‘The Celestine Prophecy’ systematically yet with a creative flair, weaves 9 rather esoteric insights guiding readers towards ‘spiritual awakening’ in a narrative format. Each insight gets increasingly juicier. What makes this story an ‘adventure’, as advertised, is that these 9 insights are being hushed by the Peruvian government as they presume these insights are influencing individuals to undermine their authority. The unnamed American protagonist ends up in Peru and learns these insights along with the reader. Anyway, that’s enough book reviewing from me.

Here are the insights.

The First Insight) At some stage in our lives, we begin to become conscious/aware of “coincidences”. A symptom of this is restlessness, according to the book. Restlessness spurred by a strong yet ambiguous feeling that there is so much we don’t know. During these periods, we may find very fleetingly short and rare moments of ‘enlightenment’. I think of these moments as ‘aha’/epiphanies but often quickly get obscured or ‘forgotten’ by habits, routine and the onslaught of time. At this insight, we become more aware of ‘meaningful coincidences’. 

The Second Insight) talks about bringing awareness to history. What happened in the universe for you to be exactly where you are now? History is the investigation of the past (Thucydides), I hear the late Bruce Dennett (Rest in peace) echoing in my mind. History is more than investigating the past events, it also partners well with sociology. What were people feeling/thinking at the time? History is the evolution of thought! The first step is described as a void in which invisible energy vibrations undergo many reactions to eventually form life on earth. A more understandable historical observation is the year 1000 in the Middle Ages, which saw a society with a clear ‘good or evil’ dichotomy navigated by the church. Over time, in the 14th and 15th century, history saw the growth of science and decentralising religious absolutism. The search for answers through logic, science and reasoning is still very dominant in today’s (2024) society. Ironically, this search for answers perpetuates social paradigms of anxiety, uncertainty and restlessness. This is being met by ‘comfort’ in tangible, superficial things which ultimately is not enough. Is this society subconsciously crying out for more faith beyond just within humankind? Spirituality? 

From the first page, the book is very clear with its intentions and execution. How do we gain control of more optimal “coincidental” events more consistently? The book synthesises a combination of concepts: physics, psychology, esoteric mysticism and religion

The Third Insight) Humans will begin to learn to perceive ‘invisible energy’, the energy of the universe. Perceiving this ‘invisible energy’ is likened to human perception of beauty. For example, sunsets/sunrises, a Zen garden or a view from the top of a mountain. The book describes how this perception of beauty is on the same continuum as perceiving this ‘invisible universe’s energy’. What is ‘universe’s energy? At this stage in the book, it eludes this energy as ‘life energy’ and uses a scenario where there is a controlled experiment with plants. In the experiment, all the variables were the same except one plant was given more “special attention”. The experimenters gave this plant more love, more ‘universe energy’ such as caressing it gently or even telling it to grow stronger. It notes quantum physics where even projecting intention is changing energy. Think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. (Tesla). Sounds crazy right? Yet like many epiphanies in life, the book’s recurring motif is that “once you see it, you cannot unsee it”.

The Fourth Insight) Humans will eventually see that this universe's energy can sufficiently sustain us and respond to our expectations. However, most humans are using the wrong energy. Rather than using this “universe’s energy” (I can imagine the eyes rolling), they mostly rely on stealing human energy from one another. The book contends we are mostly disconnected from this ‘universe’ energy supply. Symptoms of this are listed as:

• Weakness

• Insecurity

• A feeling that something is lacking in life.

Humans compete for ‘human energy’, and thus perpetuate an unconscious competition that underlies all human conflict. 

Let’s specify. There are billions of conversations/interactions that occur around the world each day. Ultimately, we come out of interactions feeling stronger or weaker. The book says how subconsciously, we prepare ourselves before and during conversations to say whatever we must in order to prevail in that conversation. Thus we manipulate the conversation (mostly subconsciously) for the outcome of feeling stronger/better relatively. This paradigm is scaled from supermarket conversations to street gangs and even global politics. Indeed, whether we realise it or not, we fill our energy up at others’ expense. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton). When we compete, argue or hurt one another, we receive their energy. Perhaps this behaviour is linked to survival instincts: the survival of the fittest.

The book talks about where we learnt this (you may guess the childhood and that is correct) in later insights.

So what about giving energy? I immediately think of nice and even kind souls who tend to always give. The book acknowledges how people ‘giving energy’ often don’t last very long due to a lack of strength and endurance to sustain. Over time, these nice people often fall into the above mentioned power struggles of who controls the energy, with the loser paying the price. Wars don’t get settled because one side is holding onto an irrational position for energy control. 

The book affirms again that the answer is to stop relying solely on human energy and begin to use the energy of the universe. 

The Fifth Insight) Attracting the abundance of the universe’s energy… As mentioned, the universe’s energy is likened to that of love. You do not make yourself love, you cannot force it. You allow it to enter you. Surrendering and being vulnerable. Like the universe’s energy, love is endless. We cyclically give and take love once optimised. The circle of life. 

The universe’s energy is most felt during sincere, candid moments like watching the sunrise or sunset. By being present in nature, feeling its closeness and breathing it in. Or being on top of a mountain, overlooking the vastness. 

To attract the universe’s energy, we must go back to where we began the formation of bad yet then necessary habits. The childhood. We must face the truth, for the truth will set you free. 

The Sixth Insight) The intensive dive back into childhood… How do you control others? Where, how and why did you learn this? We need to face up to our own particular ways of “controlling” others. And there’s nothing “wrong” with having such control drama. Everything happens for a reason. However, at some point, we must break these habits, otherwise we cannot tap into the universe’s supply of energy and our habits of controlling others (largely unconsciously) will perpetuate. 

This insight has been particularly relevant to me as I have been navigating my formative years and my relationship with my parents. Where it all began. I realised how I became a skilled yet unconscious people-pleaser. This ‘control drama’ stemmed from trying to please my critical father. How mistaken I was in my interpretation of how I could have made him ‘happy’. This example, along with countless other habits and practices, are forms of transactional love (something I learnt recently from David Tian’s workshop videos) and I believe are increasingly becoming rampant in our capitalistic society today. Unconditional love is what we ultimately seek and we often don’t learn this till we become parents. 

Interestingly, the protagonist’s control drama, which he learnt from a very young boy, is very similar to my own. He’s described as acting aloof and uncaring day to day, so that he could gain attention from others. This was how he avoided conflict and effectively ‘people pleased’ in his own way. Ironically, acting aloof and uncaring leads to attracting mostly similar energy while one subconsciously hopes for someone to pull them out of this habit. Be careful of what you wish for. 

The protagonist too had a very critical father like myself. The constant criticisms drained him and as a result, he became vague and distant towards life. He would manipulate: selectively saying things to bring attention in a way he wished, and selectively hiding things he deemed undesirable. This behaviour was to avoid feelings of inadequacy, which stemmed from his interpretation of his father’s criticism. Where did his father learn this from? 

The book enlightens readers that once we can recognise this and actively try to change this, our “real lives” can start.

The book lists four archetypes towards drama. 

• The intimidator (active)

• The interrogator (active)

• The aloof (passive) (the protagonist and I)

• The poor me (passive)

We are all connected in life. The ripple effect. Within dramas in human interaction, the book exemplifies how the aloof person creates a frustrated interrogator. The frustrated interrogator withdraws people into aloofness. On the other hand, an aggressive intimidator can create a ‘poor me’ person or another aggressive intimidator.

Imagine these dynamics into your own intimate relationships. In ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ the protagonist’s parents had very contrasting values and control drama. This contrast and resulting parental conflict exacerbated his own aloofness. He is suggested to “discover a truth that is a higher synthesis of what these two people (his parents) believed.” Don’t be like the wise, seek what they sought…

Once you know thyself to a baseline level, the book brings forth the seventh insight. Once control dramas diminish, you become more aware of thoughts entering from your higher self. The answers are already within. 

The Seventh Insight) Sustaining conscious and disciplined evolution of the self via intuition. Feel, don’t think. Here, the book talks about more abstract concepts with increasing spiritual awakening and consciousness. Urges, dreams, nightmares, daydreams or even ‘random thoughts’ are telling you things. The book also warns that allowing fear to spread within our consciousness severely hinders our progression towards spiritual awakening. We cannot be paralysed by fear. 

The Eighth Insight) largely explores the energy dynamics between people. For example in negative interactions, we should not give the ‘required’ matching part to a negative control drama. For example, an intimidator needs a ‘poor me’ or another intimidator to re-energise their archetype. Don’t play into these dramas. 

Control dramas can also be prevented in children should a parent be able to provide “constant, undivided attention.” (https://heritage.gurus.org/dougdeb/Courses/bestsellers/Celestine/Insights.htm)

The eighth insight also warns against addiction to other people. By this, it means general over-dependence on another person. For most, this topic falls under partnership and romance. In new loves, people are giving each other energy unconsciously and passionately. They feel elated. They often shortsightedly see this love as the energy for their life and cut off the universe’s energy. Over time, the feelings of this love diminish and they fall back into the drama and control tactics. This power struggle is precedented by one’s energy competition early on in the childhood where we weren’t able to complete an important psychological process: to integrate our opposite sex, i.e. our opposite sex parent. For me, it’s my mother. We become addicted to the opposite sex because we have yet to access this opposite sex energy ourselves. Mystical universal energy is comprised of both male and female energy and of course, it takes time. If we don’t understand our opposite sex parent wholeheartedly, there will be powerful urges to chase opposite sex people to try and compensate. Once you can understand your opposite sex parent wholeheartedly, you would realise they are just mere mortals and the pedestal that you put them on as a small naive child would disappear. The book advises to resist any initial love at first sight feeling or impulses to have a clearer perspective. 

In an era where noone wants to be subservient to anyone else, power struggles are more rampant than ever on a day to day basis. Particularly power struggles within the self. The book describes us as having two heads/two egos in one body. This part of the book is more complex than the other parts, although quite short nonetheless. But all truths can be expressed at a child’s level of understanding, it just takes thought, deliberation and time. 

What happens when more participants have reached the eighth insight? An energy conscious conversation between conscientious people. They draw each other’s potential and bring the best out of one another. Bit like Japan? 

The Ninth Insight) Where the world will be in the next millennium… The population will decrease as will distractions and unnecessary. Nature will be far more abundant and technology will only be in place for survival. There will be no currency except the spiritual economy, the giving and receiving of ‘energy’, love and beauty. 

I think of ‘Brave New World’ or 1984 during these reflections but that exploration is for another time. 

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https://heritage.gurus.org/dougdeb/Courses/bestsellers/Celestine/Insights.htm (A more succinct and objectively accurate summary of the 9 insights…)