The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure by James Redfield Page B

focused on concrete problems that would make our existence seem more secure.”
    We had followed the meandering path from the bridge through a small meadow and into an area more densely covered with trees.
    “With this attitude,” she went on, “science systematically removed the uncertain and the esoteric from the world. We concluded, following the thinking of Isaac Newton, that the universe always operated in a predictable manner, like an enormous machine, because for a long time that’s all it could be proved to be. Events which happened simultaneously to other events yet had no causal relationship were said to occur only by chance.
    “Then, two investigations occurred which opened our eyes again to the mystery in the universe. Much has been written over the past several decades about the revolution in physics, but the changes really stem from two major findings, those of quantum mechanics and those of Albert Einstein.
    “The whole of Einstein’s life’s work was to show that what we perceive as hard matter is mostly empty space with a pattern of energy running through it. This includes ourselves. And what quantum physics has shown is that when we look at these patterns of energy at smaller and smaller levels, startling results can be seen. Experiments have revealed that when you break apart small aspects of this energy, what we call elementary particles, and try to observe how they operate, the act of observation itself alters the results—as if these elementary particles are influenced by what the experimenter expects. This is true even if the particles must appear in places they couldn’t possibly go, given the laws of the universe as we know them: two places at the same moment, forward or backward in time, that sort of thing.”
    She stopped to face me again. “In other words, the basic stuff of the universe, at its core, is looking like a kind of pure energy that is malleable to human intention and expectation in a way that defies our old mechanistic model of the universe—as though our expectation itself causes our energy to flow out into the world and affect other energy systems. Which, of course, is exactly what the Third Insight would lead us to believe.”
    She shook her head. “Unfortunately, most scientists don’t take this idea seriously. They would rather remain skeptical, and wait to see if we can prove it.”
    “Hey Sarah, here we are over here,” a voice called faintly from a distance. To the right about fifty yards through the trees, we could see someone waving.
    Sarah looked at me. “I need to go talk with those guys for a few minutes. I have a translation of the Third Insight with me, if you would like to pick out a spot and read some of it while I’m gone.”
    “I sure would,” I said.
    She pulled a folder from her pack, handed it to me, and walked away.
    I took the folder and looked around for a place to sit down. Here the forest floor was dense with small bushes and was slightly soggy, but to the east the land rose toward what looked like another knoll. I decided to walk in that direction in search of dry ground.
    At the top of the rise I was awestruck. It was another spot of incredible beauty. The gnarled oaks were spaced about fifty feet apart and their wide limbs grew completely together at the top, creating a canopy overhead. On the forest floor grew broad-leafed tropical plants which stood four or five feet high and had leaves up to ten inches in width. These plants were interspersed with large ferns and bushes lush with white flowers. I picked out a dry place and sat down. I could smell the musty odor of the leaves and the fragrance of the blossoms.
    I opened the folder and turned to the beginning of the translation. A brief introduction explained that the Third Insight brings a transformed understanding of the physical universe. Its words clearly echoed Sarah’s summary. Sometime near the end of the second millennium, it predicted, humans would discover a new energy which