Your book stayed on the New York Times Bestseller list for over three years and was published in over 40 languages, with over 14 million copies in print, and it's still selling everywhere now. Why is it so popular?
I think because it puts into words what so many of us are experiencing. We all want a deeper sense of spiritual meaning and the book speaks to that.
And now the movie is coming. Do you think it will also speak to this sense that there's a deeper spirituality that they can find?
Absolutely. We couldn't put all of the book into a film, but the movie carries the essence of what the book expressed: A sense that there's a greater mystery about our lives and why we're here. It's a mystery that we can directly experience, regardless of which religious tradition we have grown up with
What are some of these experiences?
For one, learning to slow down and perceive the mysterious events and opportunities that happen in life. We call them coincidences, but if we look closely we see they are meaningful. They bring us just the right information at just the right time to extend our careers, relationships, growth. These events feel destined in some way, as though the world is set up to help us make a better life, work through our problems, and reach our dreams -- if we just pay attention. This is a phenomenon that the Swiss Psychiatrist Carl Jung called Synchronicity, and that every religion has a name for. These coincidences are there to help wake us up, so we can cultivate more of this flow in our lives.
Does the Celestine Prophecy Movie deal with how to do this?
Like the book, it shows John, our main character, beginning to sense this force in his life moving him somewhere. He learns he can find a deeper connection with the divine, and open up to a greater sense of energy, inspiration, beauty, and what we call a "guiding intuition," so that he can discover why he's in Peru. He has to learn to give energy, and stay connected in order to help unlock the secrets of his destiny. That's what we all want to do.
What do you hope will happen with the movie?
I hope that it will be viewed as a kind of model for the deeper spirituality that we all sense we can reach -- a spirituality where we connect with the divine not just mentally, but as a real experience of an outpouring of love and energy. It is a spirituality where we find our destined path to making the world better, and in which we begin to expect and cultivate this intuitive flow in life that we sense is possible. If we all focus on the direct experience of God, then we can lessen the conflict and tension in the world.
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