Vol. 12, No. 1, 1995

The Celestine Prophecy

By Dustin Salter

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, is fast becoming the top commercial publishing event of the year. Hovering at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for the last several months, it is arguably the hottest book of the season. Originally self-published in 1992, it grew through New Age bookstore popularity to an $850,000 purchase by Time Warner books and sales approaching a million copies (Body, Mind, & Spirit, July/August 1994, p. 31). Who is James Redfield and what sort of worldview (a way of looking at the world and reality) does he espouse? More importantly, why should Christians be concerned?

Redfield, a native Alabamian raised in the Methodist church, is a former youth counselor with degrees in sociology and counseling. As a college student, he began reading authors like Alan Watts and Teilehard de Chardin, both of whom write with an Eastern/Hindu worldview. He has also traveled to Sedona, Arizona, considered by many to be a " New Age Mecca" that is famous for its supposed UFO sightings, invisible energy vortexes and psychic channels. Redfield also claims he was miraculously healed of a foot injury while there. The New Age philosophy espoused in The Celestine Prophecy is not very "new." It is little more than "New Age 101" very basic. What makes the book unique is that it mixes its New Age teachings into a somewhat entertaining Indiana Jones style adventure. Readers who become involved in the plot of the novel can be unconsciously drawn into its worldview which is communicated on a popular level. Because of its attractive approach, the book is having an enormous influence on culture. Christians must be equipped to respond.

Stranger than Nonfiction

The book tells the story of the author's perilous search through the Peruvian jungles for spiritual "Insights" left by the ancient Mayans in secret manuscripts. Conservative leaders of the scientific and religious community will stop at nothing, including murder, to keep these spiritual secrets away from sincere and enlightened seekers. Redfield somewhat unsuccessfully attempts to infuse drama and suspense into the book's plot. As an adventure story, the book is not very good. Its characters are trite and attempts at suspense are obviously contrived and anticlimactic.

What is not quite so obvious is that the book is pure fiction. The author and publisher have not made a tremendous effort to explain that the book's story never actually happened. A recent New Age Journal points out this oversight: "A true story? Well, not exactly, though many Celestine devotees have apparently thought so. (Some have reportedly walked out on readings after getting the facts.) And booksellers, too: At least one major chain had the novel prominently displayed in the nonfiction section....Redfield perhaps learning from the likes of fact-or-fiction authors Carlos Castaneda and Lynn Andrews is delightfully ambiguous, sometimes calling the book `a parable' other times `a construction based on my own experiences'" ( July/August 1994, p. 62).

The Celestine Theology

The narrative centers around a search for ancient Mayan manuscripts known as the Nine Insights. These insights purport to contain information and ancient wisdom about ultimate reality and man's place in it. These Insights form the book's basic theology. Here is a concise overview of the manuscripts as presented in New Age Journal (July/August 1994, p. 65) and an appropriate, biblical response.

1st Insight

"1. Feeling restless? You're not alone: Everybody's starting to look for more meaning in life. Start paying closer attention to those seemingly "chance coincidences", strange occurrences that feel like they were meant to happen. They are actually synchronistic events, and following them will start you on your path to spiritual truth."

Response: The question of the meaning of life is not a new one. Philosophers, theologians, and laymen have probed the depth of this question from antiquity. Christians agree that there are no "chance coincidences" but that God oversees all the events of life, down to the smallest detail. However, we are not looking for an other-worldly, metaphysical experience around every corner of our daily life. To blindly surrender to haphazard, subjective experiences as a guide to life is shallow and frivolous as it does not account for the possibility of an outside diabolical influence or the possibility of self-deception (1 Timothy 4:1).

2nd Insight

"2. Observe our culture within its proper historical context. The first half of the past millennium was spent under the thumb of the church; in the second half we became preoccupied with material comfort. Now, at the end of the twentieth century, we've exhausted that preoccupation. We're ready to discover life's ultimate purpose."

Response: The complaint by Redfield that the first half of the past millennium was "spent under the thumb of the church" is a classic fallacy in logic known as argumentum ad homenum. In it, the critic attacks the personal shortcomings of the man rather than dealing with the issue itself. The statement concerning the medieval oppression of the church is grossly exaggerated, and falsely caricatured abuses and the perversions of medieval "Christianity" are not representative of true Christianity. Redfield criticizes the church instead of centering on the question of life's ultimate meaning. Christians should wholeheartedly agree with the author that our society has become preoccupied with material comfort. Christians join with him in an attempt to turn the focus of our secular society back to spiritual issues. Of course, Christians have radically conflicting views of the nature of this spirituality. Evangelical Christians strongly disagree with Redfield on the direction this spirituality should take (John 14:6).

3rd Insight

"3. Start to get acquainted with the subtle energy that infuses all things. With practice, you can learn to see the aura around any living being and to project your own energy around it to give it strength."

Response: Redfield is mistaken about the "energy" that infuses all things. The God of Scripture supplies and sustains life to all things. The "auras" that the author imagines encircling living beings is more fantasy than fact. There have been many reputable scientific studies which have demolished any factual claims of cause and effect to these kinds of claims, including ESP, psi, parapsychology, subliminal, meditation, and NLP (Enhancing Human Performance, National Academy of Sciences, 1988; In the Mind's Eye, 1991). What anecdotal evidence does exist for auras and other psychic manifestations could easily be explained as psychological or demonic (1 John 4:1).

4th Insight

"4. An unconscious competition for energy underlies all conflicts. By dominating or manipulating others, we get the extra energy we think we need. Sure, it feels good, but both parties are damaged in the conflict."

Response: Again, Christians have a point of contact with the New Ager. To reflect Christ-like character is not to dominate or manipulate others (Matthew 20:25-28). But the energy that Redfield purports to underlie these conflicts is a cosmic illusion not grounded in reality.

5th Insight

"5. The key to overcoming conflict in the world is the mystical experience, which is available to everyone. To nurture the mystical and build your energy, allow yourself to be filled with a sense of love."

Response: New Agers generally believe that the key to overcoming conflict is magical, mystical experience fueled by love. This is an ambiguous, unclear answer to dealing with human conflict. In addition, it is far removed from real life. Overcoming conflict biblically involves a decision of the will to deny yourself and seek others' interests before your own. It involves action and doing, trusting in the power of God and His will apart from yourself, not an internal generation (Philippians 1:6, Colossians 1:28-29).

6th Insight

"6. Childhood traumas block our ability to fully experience the mystical. All humans, because of their upbringing, tend toward one of four "control dramas": Intimidators steal energy from others by threat. Interrogators steal it by judging and questioning. Aloof people attract attention (and energy) to themselves by playing coy. And Poor me's make us feel guilty and responsible for them. Become aware of the family dynamics that created your control drama and you can focus on your essential question, which is how to make of your life a higher-level synthesis of your parents' lives."

Response: The language employed by Redfield is an attempt to fuse together current secular pop-psychology with a New Age worldview. We would agree that we are emotional creatures made in the image of God, but our most fundamental problem is not our "control drama," but that we have sinned before a holy God. Redfield's solution is to become independent and autonomous from any outside control or judgments, including those authorities God has placed in our lives as a restrainer of evil (John 3:17-21; Romans 13: 1-6).

7th Insight

"7. Once cleared of traumas, you can build energy through contemplation and meditation, focus on your basic life question, and start riding a steady stream of intuitions, dreams, and synchronistic coincidences, all guiding you in the direction of your own evolution and transformation."

Response: Christians do not seek to build energy, but to conform to the image of Christ. Instead of riding a steady stream of intuitions and dreams, Believers follow Christ by the lead of the Holy Spirit and through God's revelation of Himself in the Bible (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Instead, Redfield offers a "reality" of chance, intuition, and "coincidences, 170 which are all subjective. One is asked to surrender to the irrational. His worldview is based on the faulty presupposition that the Monistic Energy/god is inherently good, all is good and perfect.

8th Insight

"8. That evolution can't be done alone, so begin to practice the new "Interpersonal Ethic" by uplifting those who cross your path. Talk to people who make spontaneous eye contact with you. Avoid codependent relationships. Be there for people. Call attention to other people's control dramas. In groups, speak when the spirit (instead of the ego) moves you."

Response: Christians should applaud Redfield's encouragement to uplift people and "be there" for people. However, because New Age theology teaches that man is actually God, one wonders why people must try so hard to be kind and caring to others? Redfield avoids the obvious ethical dilemma of the New Age teaching that all is God. If humans are God, why should they not pursue their base human desires? Why not steal and kill rather than serve and care? Who or what decides which behavior is good and evil? This weakness is especially apparent in those New Agers who deny the reality of sin in favor of moral relativism. New Age philosophy teaches that there is no transcendent God to whom man must answer. Dostoevsky stated it best when he said, "If there is no God, everything is permissible." There is no ground for morality if there is no Moral Law-Giver (God). We are left only with Nietzsche's "will to power" that provided the basis for the likes of Hitler and Stalin (Romans 3:12; 2 Timothy 4:1).

9th Insight

"9. Our purpose here is to evolve beyond this plane. Fewer people (a result of reproductive abstinence) and more old-growth forests will help us to sustain our energy and accelerate our evolution. Technology will do most of our work for us. As we begin to value spiritual insight more and more, we will pay those who bring it to us, and this will eventually replace the market economy and our need for paid employment. We can connect to God's energy in such a way that we will eventually become beings of light, and walk straight into heaven."

Response: Man's purpose is not to "evolve beyond this plane" but to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The idea that old-growth forests will help us to sustain our energy is a spin-off of the New Age belief about reality known as Pantheism. It asserts that God is all and all is God. Therefore, man and nature are actually one. Redfield's revelation that people will pay others to bring them New Age spiritual insight seems rather self-serving. Redfield himself sells a "unique interpretation of your astrological data" for $50.00 (The Celestine Prophecy, p. 256). Many New Agers charge exorbitant amounts of money in exchange for their "spiritual insights." Redfield's notion that people can eventually become beings of light is far removed from the historical, objective Jesus Christ who is true Light of the World (John 8:12).

In Romans 13, God directs believers to understand the times. Christians are called to stand against the "spirit of the age" as it changes from generation to generation. The current manifestation of the spirit of the age is the New Age movement. Redfield's best-seller is saturated with New Age beliefs, practices, and ideas. Christians must not retreat from the world and create a "Christian ghetto," but neither should they uncritically embrace the world's philosophies. To be salt and light, Christians must interpret and refute the spirit of the age that is so pervasive in our culture.

Dustin Salter was a summer intern with Watchman Fellowship's Alabama office.