Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Mini Review: The Celestine Prophecy

Yesterday, I did the Hawk Island Loop, a bike ride that measures just over 8 miles. It was exhausting, exhilarating and breath-taking. It was gorgeous, and I pushed myself to the point of gasping for breath at the end of the ride. The River Trail path takes you right through a mature forest, in the middle of Lansing! A great way to celebrate America's independence.

I was going to go for another ride this morning, but I decided to take a day off and let my muscles recuperate a bit. I'm headed out for a walk to our little downtown area. I think I'll start calling it the "East End," even though no one will know what I mean. Yoga, later, too.


This book had been hovering around in my peripheral to-be-read cloud for months.

Mike Thomas, an interesting YouTuber and proprietor of YouAreThePath.com, gave it a glowing recommendation not too long ago, so I finally acquired a copy and gave it a try...
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The Celestine Prophecy is not a literary masterpiece by any measure, but it does offer a number of interesting (and sometimes common-sense) insights into how people think. Redfield's New Age bestseller was an entertaining, easy read peppered with observations that caused me to pause and think about my actions toward others, and myself. As Redfield states, it's meant to be more of a parable, a thought-jogger for readers of all ilks to take in and use in their own lives. It's not supposed to be, as I said, a literary masterpiece.

The plot's structure is made up of a number of "insights," or philosophical ideals about how people should treat one another and themselves. Woven into this adventure story are archeological and scientific ideas, facts and fallacies. If you take this book for what it's meant to be, an easy and effective look at Redfield's life philosophy, then you'll enjoy this little book and may even seek out the sequels he has since published.

It's hard to hate on a book that's full of good messages about trying to heal the world and it's peoples. Try it out. There are copies available in just about every book shop, new and used, as well as libraries and friends bookshelves. See if it works for you, but don't bash it if it's not your style. Redfield's suggestions as to how people should treat one another could benefit some of the snarky, cynical reviewers who have tossed this book aside. It's a heck of a lot better than the Twilight-esque rubbish flying off of the presses, these days.

They made this book into a movie not so long ago, but I haven't seen it, yet. It's on Netflix (what isn't?), so I'll see it soon enough.

I'm about half-way through The Tenth Insight, Redfield's sequel to Celestine Prophecy. This book is discerningly far-fetched, even when compared to it's predecessor. Still, I admire Redfield's philosophies of how we should live and learn, so I'll finish it. Book number three, Secret of Shambhala, is already in my possession. A fourth book, The Twelfth Insight, was released in February. I've assumed that it's a great work on the current societal and world condition. If I can make it through this sequel without tossing it aside in frustration I'll finish the series.

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It's not as good as Ecotopia, though.