In the rain forests of Peru an ancient manuscript has been discovered and within its pages are nine key insights to life. It predicts that we will grasp each one sequentially as we move toward a completely spiritual culture on Earth.

Written by James Redfield, “The Celestine Prophecy” takes us on a gripping adventure but also gives answers about our existence and how to make connections among the events happening in our lives. You will have a hard time putting down the No. 1 New York Times bestseller once you begin reading it. The manuscript’s insights will make you think about life while you get caught up in the narrator’s adventure of his pursuit of the manuscript. The story is written with great detail and there never seems to be a dull moment throughout its 246 pages.

In the beginning, the narrator is bored of his everyday life, but feels rejuvenated when he learns of the manuscript from an old friend of his. In fact, it perks his interest so much that, he decides to get on the next plane to Peru within hours of the conversation. The government and church are trying to repress the manuscript and he is warned that it may be dangerous to pursue it. The manuscript predicts a massive transformation in human society and the first insight surfaces unconsciously, as a sense of restlessness.

On the plane ride to Peru, the narrator feels skeptical about his trip, but then overhears people discussing the manuscript. He learns about the second insight from Wayne Dobson, an assistant professor from NYU. This insight has us look at history as a whole and says that we will identify a particular preoccupation that developed during the later half of this millennium.

Once the narrator arrives in Peru he decides to tag along with Dobson. However, he quickly sees how dangerous it is there when the two get shot at while trying to check into a hotel. They get separated at this point, but the narrator quickly runs into Wilson James, who, says he can help him hide out. James knows eight of the insights and is in pursuit of the ninth.

The narrator asks James to explain all of the insights to him, but James says that they have to be discovered one by one in the course of his own life. James takes him to the Viciente Lodge where he learns the third insight-a new understanding of the physical world formerly an invisible type of energy. The physical world is a vast system of energy and the fourth insight says that humans have been unconsciously competing for the only part of this energy we have been open to the part that flows between people.

Redfield details the beauty of Peru’s tropical rain forests and jungles brilliantly and makes you feel like you’re there.

One day, the narrator sees his friend Marjorie. As he approaches her, he notices that armed soldiers are across the street. Soon they start firing at a group studying the manuscript and he ends up on the run again. He gets separated from Marjorie and sees her captured but then runs into another acquaintance he met earlier. They begin to run together but only the narrator survives.

At this point the narrator is exhausted and he thinks he’s going to die. He hides on the top of a ridge and starts to reflect back on his life. He feels euphorically connected with the landscape and later learns that this experience is known as a mystical experience-the fifth insight.

The narrator decides to try and find out which aspects of the manuscript the church dislikes but on his trip to the jungle, he gets captured by soldiers and is taken away. His capture turns out to be a good, however, because he gets a full interpretation of the seventh insight and finds Marjorie. They wind up escaping while being transported to another town, and encounter Karla Deez, who helps them get away and tells them of the eighth insight.

Now on the run from the military, their lives are in the greatest danger yet. However, the narrator still wants to try to convince the church not to repress the manuscript and destroy the ninth insight, if they happen to find it. He realizes he can possibly die for his actions or be imprisoned, but he doesn’t care.

Will he be able to convince the church not to suppress the manuscript? Will he get killed in the process or sent to prison for his involvement? Pick up a copy of “The Celestine Prophecy” and your questions will be answered. You won’t be disappointed.