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ohmwu 's review for:
The Celestine Prophecy
by James Redfield
I found this book when I was 14, and got really excited about it. Finally, a book which looked like it could bring me a challenging, new worldview and a greater understanding of the universe.
I was young, and naive.
As I read, I began to notice gaps in the logic of the "key insights to life itself". Each one seemed OK at first, but it soon became clear that they were almost completely random subjective interpretations. The only reason they seemed to hold any form of persuasive power is that they correlated with the events in the novel. "See! That girl just got angry for no reason! That validates the insight about people randomly getting angry all the time. You notice this too, right? Huh? It happens, doesn't it? I bet it's happened to you too."
Yes, it has. It's called LIFE plus COMPLEX HUMAN EMOTIONS.
People can believe what they want about spiritual energy and cosmic harmony, but I wish they'd do it less ostentaciously. I'm not so much worried about James Redfield than the people who read this and accept it unquestioningly. Newsflash: You can have beliefs and still retain a sense of rationality. Question your beliefs, for the sake of your integrity and your love for them.
I don't mean to be too harsh on this book. Not everyone who reads and likes it is a simpleton, which works in thier favour. If they can read this, and learn some life lessons from it, without trying to indoctrinate people(The back of the book urges you to pass it on to as many people as you can, and looking at the Celestine Prophecy forums, this is exactly what they do a hunderedfold), then they are doing better than most. The insights themselves arn't potentially harmful.
At the end of the day, it's just a novel. All authors bring thier beliefs with them to the desk. None have done it quite so blatantly as Jame Redfield, but at least here there's no hidden catch. I gave it two stars, one for the people it has helped, and one for Redfield's capitalist breakthrough. Face it, this book is a bestseller: He must have done something right.
I was young, and naive.
As I read, I began to notice gaps in the logic of the "key insights to life itself". Each one seemed OK at first, but it soon became clear that they were almost completely random subjective interpretations. The only reason they seemed to hold any form of persuasive power is that they correlated with the events in the novel. "See! That girl just got angry for no reason! That validates the insight about people randomly getting angry all the time. You notice this too, right? Huh? It happens, doesn't it? I bet it's happened to you too."
Yes, it has. It's called LIFE plus COMPLEX HUMAN EMOTIONS.
People can believe what they want about spiritual energy and cosmic harmony, but I wish they'd do it less ostentaciously. I'm not so much worried about James Redfield than the people who read this and accept it unquestioningly. Newsflash: You can have beliefs and still retain a sense of rationality. Question your beliefs, for the sake of your integrity and your love for them.
I don't mean to be too harsh on this book. Not everyone who reads and likes it is a simpleton, which works in thier favour. If they can read this, and learn some life lessons from it, without trying to indoctrinate people(The back of the book urges you to pass it on to as many people as you can, and looking at the Celestine Prophecy forums, this is exactly what they do a hunderedfold), then they are doing better than most. The insights themselves arn't potentially harmful.
At the end of the day, it's just a novel. All authors bring thier beliefs with them to the desk. None have done it quite so blatantly as Jame Redfield, but at least here there's no hidden catch. I gave it two stars, one for the people it has helped, and one for Redfield's capitalist breakthrough. Face it, this book is a bestseller: He must have done something right.