The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure by James Redfield Page A

Manuscript says. We are changing our world view. I can see it in psychology.”
    “What do you mean?”
    He took a breath. “My field is conflict, looking at why humans treat each other so violently. We’ve always known that this violence comes from the urge humans feel to control and dominate one another, but only recently have we studied this phenomenon from the inside, from the point of view of the individual’s consciousness. We have asked what happens inside a human being that makes him want to control someone else. We have found that when an individual walks up to another person and engages in a conversation, which happens billions of times each day in the world, one of two things can happen. That individual can come away feeling strong or feeling weak, depending on what occurs in the interaction.”
    I gave him a puzzled look and he appeared slightly embarrassed at having rushed into a long lecture on the subject. I asked him to go on.
    “For this reason,” he added, “we humans always seem to take a manipulative posture. No matter what the particulars of the situation, or the subject matter, we prepare ourselves to say whatever we must in order to prevail in the conversation. Each of us seeks to find some way to control and thus to remain on top in the encounter. If we are successful, if our viewpoint prevails, then rather than feel weak, we receive a psychological boost.
    “In other words we humans seek to outwit and control each other not just because of some tangible goal in the outside world that we’re trying to achieve, but because of a lift we get psychologically. This is the reason we see so many irrational conflicts in the world both at the individual level and at the level of nations.”
    “The consensus in my field is that this whole matter is now emerging into public consciousness. We humans are realizing how much we manipulate each other and consequently we’re reevaluating our motivations. We’re looking for another way to interact. I think this reevaluation will be part of the new world view that the Manuscript speaks of.”
    Our conversation was interrupted as Wil walked up. “They’re ready to serve us,” he said.
    We hurried up the path and into the basement level of the building, the family’s living quarters. We walked through the living room and into the dining area. On the table was a hot meal of stew, vegetables, and salad.
    “Sit down. Sit down,” the proprietor was saying in English, pulling out chairs and rushing about. Behind him stood an older woman, apparently his wife, and a teenage girl of about fifteen.
    While taking his seat, Wil accidently brushed his fork with an arm. It fell noisily to the floor. The man glared at the woman, who in turn spoke harshly to the young girl who had not yet moved to bring a new one. She hurried into the other room and returned holding a fork, then handed it tentatively to Wil. Her back was stooped and her hand shook slightly. My eyes met Reneau’s from across the table.
    “Enjoy the food,” the man said, handing me one of the dishes. For most of the meal Reneau and Wil talked casually about academic life, the challenges of teaching and publishing. The proprietor had left the room but the woman stood just inside the door.
    As the woman and her daughter began serving individual dishes of pie the young girl’s elbow hit my water glass, spilling the water on the table in front of me. The older woman rushed over in a rage, shouting at the girl in Spanish and pushing her out of the way.
    “I am very sorry,” the woman said, wiping up the water. “The girl is so clumsy.”
    The young girl exploded, flinging the remaining pie at the woman, missing, and splattering pie and broken china across the middle of the table—just as the proprietor returned.
    The old man shouted and the girl ran from the room.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, hurrying to the table.
    “It’s no problem,” I replied. “Don’t be so hard on the girl.”
    Wil was on