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RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR
The Celestine Prophecy was
sociologist James Redfield's first big book. And, you wouldn't
believe it, thanks to his superb use of words and sublime
craft.
Over six million, or more, copies of
James Redfield's
maiden effort have sold, so far, in the US alone, and just
as much worldwide. For a spiritual novel, albeit capitalising
on Americans' search for the sacred, and topping the fiction
list -- a true barometer in the cultural marketplace -- that's
really something. Call it Spiritual Activism, or what you
may!
The Celestine
Prophecy is a gripping tale. It begins with the mysterious
disappearance of an ancient Peruvian manuscript with its
nine
key insights; insights, which each human being is predicted
to grasp sequentially -- one insight, then another -- as one
moves toward a completely spiritual culture on the living
planet. You may call it a Spiritual Utopia of sorts, yes; of something that
is happening at present in our lives. The build-up is excellent,
and full of coincidences, which one has only learned to expect
in everyday life -- but, without being able to connect patterns,
or decipher their spiritual meaning, or intent.
Redfield admits that his book was inspired
by such important works as Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings
Of Don Juan, and the famous prophesies of Nostradamus.
What's more, his book also draws generously on Baconian logic.
Was it not Bacon's last work, The New Atlantis, which
pictured, for the first time, a society with science having
its proper place, at last, as the master of things?
Or, Plato,
who had much, much earlier told us the old legend of Atlantis,
the sunken continent in the Western seas… for Bacon and
others to bid fair and identify Columbus' New America with
Old Atlantis? That story also begins with Peru. However this
maybe, Redfield does not give any reference to Plato's Timaeus,
or Baconian philosophy, or, for that matter, the ten steps
of yogic pranayama etc., Rather, he is quite hypnotised by
himself astonishingly, and carries on with what is essentially
a world waiting to be born.
The Celestine Prophecy signs on
with one of the most basic queries of one's own self: why
was one born into a family? Why was one destined to get into
the act of leading a particular life-style? Where lies the
need to know oneself fully? Redfield responds and explains,
needless to say, with anecdotes, spiritual and adventurous
-- each of the nine insights. The first, for example, is attuned
to coincidences, a personal journey that opens up our life.
Real life is replete with such happenings. For example -- a
telephone call from a close friend, or better still, a soul
mate.
The second identifies itself with the
nature of the Universe: the separation of fact from superstition,
the mystery of the Universe far beyond the laws of Newton,
or the theories of Einstein. The understanding of the physical
world, where human beings learn to perceive what was formerly
an invisible form of energy, makes the next insight. The fourth
and the fifth insights reveal the nature of human conflict
as being due to a shortage of, and manipulation of this energy.
The sixth, seventh, and eighth, relate themselves to help
clear our old, repeated dramas and find our true selves, the
intuition of what to do and answer… the very secret of
happiness, and how one can relate to others in a new way --
in order to bring out the best in them, by keeping the mystery
element operating, and the answers emerging...
Why is the ninth insight the most important,
you'd have sure thought. Right? Redfield unravels its essence:
"By the middle of [this] millennium, humans will typically
live among 500-year-old trees, gardens. Yet within easy travel
distance of an urban area of incredible technological wizardry.
The means of survival, foodstuffs, clothing and transportation
-- will all be totally automated at everyone's disposal. Our
needs will be completely met without the exchange of any
currency, yet also without overindulgence or laziness. Guided
by their intuition, everyone will know precisely what to do
and when to do it, and will fit harmoniously with the actions
of others."
Now, the best part of the book. It's
only natural that some Peruvian clergymen and police were not
overjoyed by such revelations; they wanted the manuscript
destroyed before it caused more harm than good to human
conscience, and the church. They dreaded the "transformed
understanding of the physical universe…"
Well, well, well. If the ninth insight
also depicts a human world where everyone has slowed down
and become alert, more alert, and ever vigilant for the next
meaningful encounter that comes along, Redfield speaks broadly
in terms of all insights integrated into a consciousness --
a heightened sense of alertness and expectation. Of a destiny
which will help increase our energy level, the level of vibrations
in the atoms of our bodies, the emergence of a cheap source
of energy in the form of fusion, superconductivity and Artificial
Intelligence -- the truth of life itself.
The rest is history as Redfield began
working on a sequel about the 10th insight, and a host of
other titles, thereafter, which is now part of his own Celestine
"genre." Not just because he knows only too well that his
success was assured whether or not his exciting new image
of human life and positive vision have it in them to underline
that eternal ambience and vibrancy that often leads us to
unveiling every human sensibility -- including the need to
knowing oneself.
All in all, a good read, The Celestine
Prophecy has been a phenomenal best-seller. Yes, ten years+
on, it continues to hold its readers in a spell of its own,
and has attracted an ever-growing band of new readers -- in
a host of languages. From Miami to Beijing. From Mumbai to Mombasa
-- by not just being friendly on your wallet, and travel
kit, even if it may have, on occasions, conjured up allegories
of spiritual propensities, not to speak of America's new-found
penchant for "celestial" hype, to be taken with a pinch of
salt.
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