The Celestine Prophecy

Framed inside a very badly written fictional conspiracy drama, this book has some really interesting ideas about the human condition. It talks of 9 steps of progress towards enlightenment, and step one is acknowledging that modern life isn't particularly fulfilling. The rest of the steps lead you to a worldview that understands humans in terms of chi energy, which we tend to steal from each other through power struggles and negativity, and which we can gain by changing our outlook on life and learning to appreciate human and natural beauty.

As I tend to do, I borrowed from this book the ideas that were useful to me while disregarding some of its weaker aspects, not limited to but including poor character development, awful dialogue, and a tendency towards self-importance. It is useful to acknowledge that part of a person's happiness arises not merely from the answers we find, but from the questions we choose to ask and the approach we choose to take towards life. The Celestine Prophecy offers an alternate approach to life that is New-Agey and chock-full of re-tooled Eastern and Western thought, but it's worth a read.