TheEschaton
04-30-2004, 01:35 PM
I've been reading this book for the past two days, here are my views on it.
Three words (alright, two, one's hyphenated):
Complete rip-off.
I mean seriously, James Redfield, this was written already. It was called The Spiritual Exercises, written by Saint Ignatius. All you did was take out all references to God til the 9th Insight, where you inexplicably insert Jesus Christ as the one example of a person who has "transformed his energy".
On a more serious analysis of the book:
I found the book to be a bit new-agey for me. I believe in many of the fundamentals principles, such as a shared energy throughout the Universe, I just see that as "God". These are not new ideas, they are merely old ideas stripped of religious idealogy. As the Jesuits say, our purpose is to see God in everything. To realize that when I pour water into a glass, it is really God pouring God into God. The "9 Insights" might of well been the 4 weeks of the Spiritual Exercises. Looking at your past? Check. Transcending your "control drama"? Check. Being in tune with nature? Check.
The thing that bothered me the most about this book is the question it leaves. This book is all about "How?" and "When?" and "Where?", but it says nothing about "Why?" Maybe I watch the Matrix Reloaded too much, but the Why is the most important question. Why are we made to evolve like this? Who cares how, when, and where, WHY must we take this journey?
Like the Merovingian says, "Here you come to me with no Why, with no power."
I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this book. To end: Too new-age for me, though I do see it confirming the Church, not contradicting it....which was already done in the 1500s by Ignatius of Loyola.
-TheE-
Three words (alright, two, one's hyphenated):
Complete rip-off.
I mean seriously, James Redfield, this was written already. It was called The Spiritual Exercises, written by Saint Ignatius. All you did was take out all references to God til the 9th Insight, where you inexplicably insert Jesus Christ as the one example of a person who has "transformed his energy".
On a more serious analysis of the book:
I found the book to be a bit new-agey for me. I believe in many of the fundamentals principles, such as a shared energy throughout the Universe, I just see that as "God". These are not new ideas, they are merely old ideas stripped of religious idealogy. As the Jesuits say, our purpose is to see God in everything. To realize that when I pour water into a glass, it is really God pouring God into God. The "9 Insights" might of well been the 4 weeks of the Spiritual Exercises. Looking at your past? Check. Transcending your "control drama"? Check. Being in tune with nature? Check.
The thing that bothered me the most about this book is the question it leaves. This book is all about "How?" and "When?" and "Where?", but it says nothing about "Why?" Maybe I watch the Matrix Reloaded too much, but the Why is the most important question. Why are we made to evolve like this? Who cares how, when, and where, WHY must we take this journey?
Like the Merovingian says, "Here you come to me with no Why, with no power."
I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this book. To end: Too new-age for me, though I do see it confirming the Church, not contradicting it....which was already done in the 1500s by Ignatius of Loyola.
-TheE-