There was a time when this novel was the most read (new) book in the world, and for good reason.

The Celestine Prophecy was written by James Redfield in 1993, for the purpose of sharing nine insights as to how personal Spiritual Awakening feels and how it can open up and expand upon our human potential for a greater life. The novel discusses a multitude of psychological and spiritual ideas that are deeply rooted in various ancient Eastern traditions as well as new age spirituality. The Celestine Prophecy illustrates these insights over the course of a compelling adventure across Peru in search of an ancient manuscript.

These insights are profound life lessons that serve as a compass, by which I now guide myself.

While I do not believe a brief rundown of the nine insights will be a sufficient substitute for reading the book altogether, I am outlining them below in hopes of planting a seed of curiosity in you, the reader. Whether you choose to water that seed- well, that is up to you.

Before I begin, I think the backstory behind how this book fell into my lap is significant, especially in light of the insights which I am about to outline. If you have not already read my previous article, "The Story of the Book That Found Me," I would suggest it, as it adds meaning to this outline, particularly to the first insight (click here to read it). If you have already read the story, you will notice I am going to begin where I left off:

"The First Insight… always surfaces unconsciously at first, as a profound sense of restlessness…

According to the manuscript, we're beginning to glimpse an alternative kind of experience… moments in our lives that feel different somehow, more intense and inspiring. But we don't know what this experience is or how to make it last, and when it ends we're left feeling dissatisfied and restless with a life that seems ordinary again… We're all looking for more fulfillment in our lives, and we won't settle for anything that seems to bring us down. This restless searching is what's behind the "me-first" attitude that has characterized recent decades…"

It was my restlessness, described in my previous article, that led me on an adventure that introduced The Celestine Prophecy into my life, after all.

Now, let's get to it.

1. Becoming aware of coincidences

"The First Insight occurs when we become conscious of the coincidences in our lives… these coincidences are happening more and more frequently and… when they do, they strike us as beyond what would be expected by pure chance. They feel destined, as though our lives had been guided by some unexplained force."

Coincidences occur in our lives every day. Logical thinkers, like myself, have a tendency to shrug off these coincidences and dismiss the possibility of them being important events. The first insight challenges people like myself, who would instinctively disregard coincidences, to see the power and meaning that these events hold. When we become aware of coincidences, we begin to notice them more and more. Sometimes people or things appear in our lives at the right place in the right time, and can serve to guide us along a new and meaningful path.

Serendipity, by definition, is the phenomenon of finding valuable things which are not sought for. By opening yourself up to the unexpected, answers may come to you (even if you were not looking for them). Not so strange, in hindsight, that a chain of coincidences and chance encounters were responsible for this book ending up in my possession. Once I digested the first insight, I began noticing coincidences in my life, and have not shrugged one off since.

2. Putting our current awareness into a historical perspective

"History is supposed to provide a knowledge of the longer context within which our lives take place. History is not just evolution of technology; it is the evolution of thought. By understanding the reality of the people who came before us, we can see why we look at the world the way we do, and what our contribution is toward further progress."

A historical perspective allows us to see and validate our new-found awareness. In the book, an influential person the narrator encounters lays it out to him like this: Imagine yourself being alive over 1000 years ago, in the Middle Ages. Power is held by the Christian church; they define the reality of the time period and influence the thoughts and beliefs of the Medieval world. God's plan for mankind is at the center of life. Every aspect of life, every phenomena – from the weather, to crop success, to death- is described in terms of God's will or the devil's malice. No concept exists of geological forces, horticulture, or disease. Not yet.

Then, in the 14^th and 15^th century, your Medieval worldview begins to fall apart when it becomes apparent that the churchmen- the connection between you and God, the interpreters of the scriptures, the mediators of your salvation- are violating their vows and are succumbing to corruption. Martin Luther leads a rebellion to break people free from the church's rule, and the rebellion succeeds. The churchmen, who once defined your reality, are losing their credibility, and everything they established about humankind's purpose is collapsing before your eyes.

People begin to question everything. What was once clear is now uncertain. Without external direction, you feel lost and confused. The old world view is challenged in every which way. In the 1600's we learn that the sun does not revolve around the earth, as the church maintained. We are no longer the center of God's universe. People need new answers.

The Modern Age begins. We develop the scientific method. The new mission of thinkers is to explore the universe, how it works, and why we are here to begin with. Though many have tried, we have yet to find complete answers to these questions which have preoccupied us ever since. In the meantime, while waiting for the answers to come, we decide to settle in to this life we have found ourselves in, and make it a bit more… comfortable.

For centuries, we collectively focused our energy on raising our standard of living. We grew preoccupied with establishing with comfort, obsessed with economic progress, and this style of survival began to feel like a reason to live in itself.

"The Second Insight extends our consciousness of historical time… It reveals our preoccupation to us and so lifts us above it… you should be able to clearly see this obsessiveness, this intense preoccupation with economic progress…the preoccupation was a necessary development, a stage in human evolution. Now, however, we've spent enough time settling into the world. It's time to wake up from the preoccupation and reconsider the original question. What's behind life on this planet? Why are we really here?"

3. Energy

Everything is energy. Einstein spent his life working to show that what we perceive as hard matter is actually just a whole lot of empty space with a pattern of energy that runs through it. Including us. Experiments in quantum physics have shown that when small aspects of this energy (elementary particles) are broken apart, and then we try to observe how they function, the act of observing influences the results as if the experimenter's expectations directly affect the elementary particles.

"In other words, the basic stuff of the universe, at its core, is looking like a kind of pure energy that is malleable to human intention and expectation in a way that defies our old mechanistic model of the universe- as though our expectation itself causes our energy to flow out into the world and affect other energy systems. Which…is exactly what the Third Insight would lead us to believe."

The Third insight says that this energy forms the basis of all things, and radiates outward from those things, including us. The perception of this energy begins with an amplified sensitivity to beauty. When something strikes us as particularly beautiful, we are close to perceiving its energy. The next level of perception it to see something's energy field. We also have the ability to give energy at will (to plants, people, events, ideas), as well as the tendency to take energy, both consciously and subconsciously.

4. Competition for energy

"Violence comes from the urge humans feel to control and dominate one another. The movement of this energy, if we can systematically observe it, is a way to understand what humans are receiving when we compete and argue and harm each other. When we control another human being, we receive their energy. We fill up at the other's expense and filling up is what motivates us."

Subconsciously, humans compete for energy in every interaction. Generally, in a conversation, you can either leave feeling strong or weak. For example, a parent who constantly belittles and scolds a child is asserting dominance and feels more in control, while draining the child of his/her energy as a vampire would drain its victim of life. Competition for energy is to blame for conflict, drama, and violence in the world.

5. Attaining Energy

The universe has an endless supply of energy, and by attaining energy from the universe, we do not need to resort to stealing energy from others as a means of filling up. We can harness the universe's energy in a multitude of ways. Plant based foods can supply us with the universe's energy, however we must appreciate the food we are eating in order to collect the energy it offers in its entirety. Some people show appreciation for their food by saying a prayer or giving thanks before meals. Food can also be appreciated through mindful eating, in which you take your time to experience, chew, and taste food. The act of eating is, in that way, a sort of ritual. The experience is to be appreciated and enjoyed.

With this energy, we can increase our sensitivity to beauty. When in nature, you can appreciate the beauty around you. Looking at a beautiful tree, you can imagine a flow of energy from it to you, and you can reciprocate this energy and return it to the tree by appreciating its beauty and feeling love towards it. Being in a state of love and appreciation allows us to connect to an energy source so that we may give and receive energy in a fulfilling exchange, which results in a feeling of lightness and buoyancy. This is why some people hug trees and talk to their house plants.

6. Clearing the past.

The more we stay connected, as described in the fifth insight, the more aware we can become when we lose connection, typically under times of stress. When we lose connection, it becomes apparent how we tend to steal energy from others. When we become aware of the way we manipulate people for energy- our control dramas- we can explore how our dramas were created in our childhood.

The 4 control dramas are:

Aloofness- Appearing mysterious, secretive, and withdrawn from others. This draws a person in by creating interest. In turn they give you energy by trying to get closer to understanding you.

Interrogating- Probing others with lots of questions, and trying to find fault in someone's answers to criticize them and take that person's energy.

Poor me- Making others feel guilty or bad for them, creating the feeling that someone has not done enough for them. They gain energy through this guilt.

Intimidating- By using aggression and anger to control others, intimidators drain people of energy by force or by scaring it out of them in the form of fear.

These archetypes we fall into are created in our childhood. An aloof parent creates an interrogator child, since the child must probe the parent and force their attention. An interrogator parent creates an aloof child, where the child becomes hyperaware of being interrogated and criticized, and in turn, becomes vague and distant so as to not give the interrogator reason to find fault or criticize. Children become aloof to prevent the interrogator from stealing their energy. An intimidator parent creates a poor me or intimidator child. If a child is being intimidated, they can either become passive and make the parent feel guilty, or if that doesn't work, they may turn to aggression to have their voice heard, both as means of taking back the energy the intimidator took from them.

When you identify your control dramas, you can examine how they were created (by your parents) and then transcend them by finding out our basic life question. To do so, you must ask yourself why you are here, and particularly why you were born to your parents, what they were good at and not so good at, what they taught you about life, and how you can use this knowledge to do what you were born to do, and evolve consciously to a level that your parents could not. You can also notice other people's control dramas, and consciously not feed into them. If you feel that someone is playing into their control drama, you can calmly state your observation and call out what they are doing. For example, if you are being intimidated by someone who is yelling at you, you can say, "I see that you are very angry, but I cannot help you resolve that anger if I am made to feel scared." It helps to be honest. Bringing the control drama to awareness allows it to be broken down.

7. Intuition

With enough energy, we can begin to engage in our own conscious evolution. We wake up to our life question, begin to define our current questions, follow our intuition about where to go from there, and watch as the answers come to us. Sometimes people, places, or things seem to jump out at us. Thoughts may arise in the back of our mind seemingly without us thinking them. Daydreams or visions may come to us at random but important times. Dreams may be important when examined in the context of our lives. These are intuitions. It is important to learn the differences between your own thoughts and your intuitions, which can be accomplished though mindfulness. We must become an observer in our own lives; from this position, we can recognize intuition as a form of guidance, and act accordingly.

"Once you become conscious of the questions active in the moment, you always get some kind of intuitive direction of what to do, of where to go. You get a hunch about the next step. Always. The only time this will not occur is when you have the wrong question in mind. You see, the problem in life isn't receiving answers. The problem is in identifying your current questions. Once you get the questions right, the answers always come… We build our energy and center ourselves in our situations, in the questions we have, then we receive some intuitive guidance, an idea of where to go or what to do, and then coincidences occur to allow us to move in that direction."

8. Relating to others

Relating to others consists of four points. First, relating to children. Children are end points in our evolution which lead us forward. They are constantly growing and learning, and as such, require unconditional and consistent energy if they are to grow up without the use of a control drama to get their energy. Ideally, for each child, there should be at least one adult available to provide their full attention. It does not have to be the parent. People will begin to realize that they should not bring more children into the world than they can provide attention for. Children should always be included in conversations (when they are present), especially ones that are about them. Speaking about the child in front of them rather than addressing them does more harm than good. We should also always find a way to be honest with children and tell them the truth. Deception also harms them more than it protects them, and it is not difficult to tell a child the truth in a way they can understand (without beating around the bush) if we simply make an effort to do so. If a child is raised in the ways outlined above, they will feel secure, and can smoothly transition from getting energy from adults to obtaining energy from the universe.

Next, we have to beware of addiction to another person, which can stop our personal evolution dead in its tracks. When love happens, initially, two parties begin unconsciously giving one another energy, which can create feelings of bliss, energy, buoyancy and euphoria. This high is what we call "being in love". However, when we expect this feeling to come from our partner, we tend to close ourselves off to the energy in the universe and depend solely on the other person to fill us with energy. Eventually, neither party will have enough energy to continue to give, and they will fall back into their control drama as a means to manipulate energy out of their partner. The relationship will turn into a power struggle.

Additionally, we commonly seek opposite-sex energy. This begins in childhood, similarly to Sigmund Freud's ideas of child development in which the same sex child and parent compete for the opposite sex parent's attention. The desire for opposite sex energy follow us into adulthood. If we prematurely connect with a human source of this female or male energy, like in a co-dependent relationship, we block the universal supply. Imagine yourself as a half circle, like the letter C. We are susceptible to other people, who are also half circles, joining with us to give us the illusion of completeness. Though it may feel like the wholeness of an O, in reality, now there are simply two half circles, each still incomplete. Two incomplete people try to become one complete entity, resulting in co-dependence and ultimately a power struggle of who gets to steer the combined entity.

"… we can still have romance. But first we have to complete the circle on our own... with the universe. When we connect romantically with another whole person after that, we create a super-person… but it never pulls us from the path of our individual evolution… it is not easy… to break away from a co-dependent relationship. It is a real pulling apart of energy. It hurts. But it must be done… We're all co-dependent, and we're all growing out of it now."

Lastly, everyone we meet has a message for us. You will find that almost always, the answers that mysteriously come to us actually come from other people. Be observant. If someone you have never met before appears familiar or stands out to you, start conversation. If you keep running into someone, you may not have received the message yet. Pay close attention to people that grab your attention, be bold, initiate conversation, and listen for the message.

9. Conscious evolution

Human culture may experience change as a result of conscious evolution, even though this generation may not be around to see it. Our world goals may shift from materialistic ones, to ones that seek our life purpose. We may voluntarily decrease our population to allow everyone to live an energetically powerful life. We may let forests grow and mature, without cutting them down, so that we can connect to their energy. We may sustain the earth's beauty and be mindful of our impact. We may find alternative solutions to pollution. People may begin living in more natural, beautiful places, separate but close to the bustling, urban, technological world. We may allow our intuitions to guide our lives. We may change careers numerous times in our lives, ensuring we are doing what we feel we are meant to do. We may abandon the need to consume in excess, possess, and control. We will understand that five centuries of establishing comfort and security was merely setting the stage for something bigger than what we have come to know as life.

Whew! That was longer than I intended, but it is so hard to pick and choose what is important to include when I felt like everything in the book was important. As I said before, this outline is merely to entice you, and in no way does it provide the same experience as reading the book. If any of these ideas are interesting to you, or if you have questions about any of the insights I described, good. I promise that reading the book will allow you to explore that interest, as well as answer any questions you have about the insights, how they work, and how you, yourself, may implement them to enrich your life.

You may find that coming across this very article is a coincidence in itself. I believe books, people, and messages always find us at the right place in the right time. Try to see the meaning beyond this coincidence. I encourage you to ask yourself why. Why did you find this article when you did? Why did you read it? What is the importance? What affect may it have on you? What will you do next?

Even if it doesn't make sense now, you may find the answers when you least expect to.

(All quotes in this article are from James Redfield's novel, The Celestine Prophecy)