The Celestine Prophecy

“She looked embarrassed for a moment, then with force said, ‘The priest told me it’s a kind of renaissance in consciousness, occurring very slowly. It’s not religious in nature, but it is spiritual. We’re discovering something new about human life on this planet, about what our existence means, and according to the priest, this knowledge will alter human culture dramatically.’”

Although it is not clear why Charlene “looked embarrassed,” one can infer that the sheer boldness of the claim gave her pause. Regardless, the power of the Manuscript overcame her hesitation, and she stated “with force” the essential significance of the artifact. The movement from “embarrassment” to “force” expresses the general movement of the narrator as well, as he moves from skepticism to belief. Furthermore, this quote is significant for its acknowledgment of the basic New Age distinction between religion and spirituality.

“The First Insight is a reconsideration of the inherent mystery that surrounds our individual lives on this planet. We are experiencing these mysterious coincidences, and even though we don’t understand them yet, we know they are real. We are sensing again, as in childhood, that there is another side of life that we have yet to discover, some other process operating behind the scenes.”

Charlene provides the initial background to the narrator about the Manuscript’s message and significance. The mystery of the Manuscript reflects the mystery of reality itself, which is described as “inherent.” That is, it is bound up within the very fabric of human lives, “operating behind the scenes,” and manifesting itself in coincidences that people do not fully understand.

“The confidence I had experienced at the lake was quickly fading back into skepticism. Both the First Insight and the idea of cultural transformation again seemed fanciful and unrealistic.”

This passage has a dual function. First, it reveals the narrator’s character as one who is questioning and skeptical. Second, it acknowledges that having questions or doubts about one’s personal spiritual journey is a common response to the ideas being presented.

“If one can connect and build up enough energy, then coincidental events begin to happen consistently.”

Wil is one of the many guides and mentors in the novel who instruct the narrator to pay attention to coincidences. This passage emphasizes that conscious choices and decisions can impact how and when these coincidences occur.

“It wouldn’t work for me to just tell you. You might have the information about each of them but you wouldn’t have the insights. You have to discover them in the course of your own life.”

Wil is here expressing one of the central tenets of New Age thought: People must acquire spiritual truth for themselves. Although others might guide or mentor them, they cannot ultimately mediate another person’s spiritual truth. This passage also explains Wil’s reticence to speak at length about the insights, as he knows that the narrator will have to arrive at his own understanding in his own time.

“As I considered my options, I realized that in reality I had no choice. The Second Insight had ended any possibility of going back to my old preoccupations. If I was going to stay aware, I had to go forward.”

The narrator just passed the threshold, one of the earliest stages of the hero’s journey as he enters a different dimension. The certainty is expressed, as is standard for the archetypal hero of the quest, that transformation is inevitable.

“From there, the Third Insight elaborated on the nature of beauty, describing this perception as the one through which humans would eventually learn to observe energy fields. Once this occurred, it said, then our understanding of the physical universe would quickly transform.”

According to the Manuscript, the true appreciation of beauty does not seek to control but to “observe.” This is an essential distinction, as the prophesied vision of the future is one that is cooperative in nature, not competitive or controlling.

“In the face of this deficit, we humans have always sought to increase our personal energy in the only manner we have known: by seeking to psychologically steal it from others—an unconscious competition that underlies all human conflict in the world.”

The narrator paraphrases the portion of the Manuscript that Wil gave him, which is an explanation of why the world is defined by conflict and not by cooperation. Despite the novel’s attempt to place human consciousness within the framework of cosmic evolution, no explanation is ever offered for why conflict exists in the natural world. Humans seek to “steal” energy from one another, thus gaining power; but this does not explain why nature is defined by predators and prey.

“Humankind. The vision ended. I had seen in one flash the entire story of evolution, the story of matter coming into being and then evolving, as if under some guiding plan, toward ever higher vibrations, creating the exact conditions, finally, for humans to emerge […] for each of us, as individuals, to emerge.”

The narrator’s mystic vision of cosmic evolution comes to an end when the story reaches human evolution. The clear suggestion here is that others must pick up the story and continue that process “toward ever higher vibrations.”

“The first step in the process of getting clear, for each of us, is to bring our particular control drama into full consciousness. Nothing can proceed until we really look at ourselves and discover what we are doing to manipulate for energy.”

Self-analysis is a key part of the process of spiritual transformation. Father Sanchez is driving on a treacherous mountain road as he says this to the narrator. The very act of “concentrat[ing] again on avoiding the fatal drop-offs” (126) is an illustration of the importance of the “full consciousness” that Sanchez is describing.

“Each of us has to go back to our family experience, that childhood time and place, and review what happened. Once we become conscious of our control drama, then we can focus on the higher truth of our family, the silver lining so to speak, that lies beyond the energy conflict. Once we find this truth, it can energize our lives, for this truth tells us who we are, the path we are on, what we are doing.”

Father Carl presents the quasi-Freudian psychology of the Sixth Insight. Here, as in other passages, emphasis is placed on the New Age concept that spiritual transformation starts with self-discovery.

“The process of finding your true spiritual identity involves looking at your whole life as one long story, trying to find a higher meaning. Begin by asking yourself this question: why was I born to this particular family? What might have been the purpose for that?”

Father Carl describes the process of self-analysis as being narrative in form—seeing one’s life as a story. In essence, he is describing the hero’s journey while generalizing it to each individual who seeks spiritual meaning in life.

“I think you’re out of energy for tonight. But let me leave you with one thought. You can go to sleep and never think again of what we have discussed. You can go right back into your old drama, or you can wake up tomorrow and hold on to this new idea of who you are. If you do then you can take the next step in the process.”

Father Carl explicitly names one of the central motifs of the novel in this passage—sleeping and waking up. Enlightenment is presented as a “process” of continuous waking over time. Just as people wake up morning after morning, they must wake up step-by-step toward a higher consciousness.

“As we discussed at the mission, love is not an intellectual concept or a moral imperative or anything else. It is a background emotion that exists when one is connected to the energy available in the universe, which, of course, is the energy of God.”

In speaking with the narrator, Father Sanchez identifies love as the point of connection and union. What the narrator experienced on the mountain in Chapter 5 was essentially this love, this “energy of God,” as he felt united with all things. His feelings of passion for Marjorie, by contrast, represent an attempt to control and siphon off another person’s energy.

“Pablo told me that dreams come to tell us something about our lives that we are missing.”

During his first imprisonment, the narrator meets a young Peruvian man, Pablo, who is wise beyond his years. The youngest of the mentors, Pablo helps the narrator see that dreams help clarify the direction people should take, as long as they are attuned to their intuition. Dreams play a key role throughout the novel in guiding the narrator and leading him to an awakening.

“You must learn that all the answers that mysteriously come to us really come from other people. Think about all that you have learned since you have been in Peru. Haven’t all the answers come to you through the actions of other people you mysteriously met?”

Pablo is interpreting one of the dominant narrative devices of the novel—the use of coincidental encounters. The repetition of the word “mysteriously” underscores that the experience of conscious evolution is neither rational nor irrational; rather, it is non-rational and not subject to critique or analysis.

“The idea of physical evolution is bad enough. But to extend the idea to everyday life, to the individual decisions we make, to history itself. That’s unacceptable. They think humans will run amuck with this evolution, that relations between people will degenerate. No wonder they want to see the Manuscript suppressed.”

Pablo provides a succinct explanation for the Church’s adamant opposition to the Manuscript. However, the notion that “humans will run amuck” is the opposite of what the Manuscript presents.

“He said that the idea of an addiction, as used in the Manuscript, explains why power struggles arise in romantic relationships. We’ve always wondered what causes the bliss and euphoria of love to end, to suddenly turn into conflict, and now we know. It is a result of the flow of energy between the individuals involved.”

Karla is referring to Reneau, the psychologist, in this passage. Several characters in the novel present this theme of true spiritual love as the antithesis of the controlling and manipulative ways in which human beings tend to interact.

“How we approach other people determines how quickly we evolve, how quickly our life questions are answered.”

Julia concisely captures the essence of the Eighth Insight and its broad applications to all relationships, whether romantic, parental, or between friends. This principle is specifically illustrated in the narrator’s interactions with both strangers and friends throughout the narrative.

“It’s really a rather hedonistic thing to do […]. The more we can love and appreciate others, the more energy flows into us. That’s why loving and energizing others is the best possible thing we can do for ourselves.”

Julia’s statement about the role of love in producing energy flow into one’s life echoes that of other spiritual traditions. It is a paradoxical statement: What benefits one most is what benefits others. This idea is present in the Christian tradition, for example, in the words of Jesus: “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:26).

“That the Manuscript would clarify many religions. And would help them fulfill their promise. All religion, it says, is about humankind finding relationship to one higher source. And all religions speak of a perception of God within, a perception that fills us, makes us more than we were. Religions become corrupted when leaders are assigned to explain God’s will to the people instead of showing them how to find this direction within themselves.”

This passage, presented late in the novel, is its most explicit statement of why the Manuscript complements, rather than contradicts, the world’s religions. Cardinal Sebastian already flatly rejected this argument, focusing only on Church control and dogma, not on the “higher source.” The emphasis here on finding this direction inside the self is a key component of New Age teaching.

“The Ninth Insight […] says that as we humans continue to increase our vibration, an amazing thing will begin to happen. Whole groups of people, once they reach a certain level, will suddenly become invisible to those who are still vibrating at a lower level. It will appear to the people on this lower level that the others just disappeared, but the group themselves will feel as though they are still right there—only they will feel lighter.”

This passage helps explain the title of the novel. The word “celestine” refers to something heavenly, and the transition from the lower level of existence to the higher level is the prophesied movement of human evolution to this lighter, otherworldly stage.

“The more beauty we can see, the more we evolve. The more we evolve, the higher we vibrate. The Ninth Insight shows us that ultimately, our increased perception and vibration will open us up to a Heaven that is already before us. We just can’t see it yet.”

Julia describes the final stage of human evolution expressed in the Ninth Insight—reaching “heaven on Earth” (243). The concept of “vibration,” which is a key idea in esoteric literature, is not specifically explained or defined.