The 11th Insight
An Interview with James Redfield
By Sirona Knight & Michael Starwyn
Millions of people have read James Redfield's books, his insights, prophecy, and vision giving renewed hope at the dawning of the 21st century. His new book "The Secret of Shambhala" (Warner Books) explains the 11th insight and is set in Tibet, a country torn by injustice. Recently just after the solar eclipse, we had an opportunity to talk with James about his new book. The following is our conversation.
What is the primary message of your new book, "The Secret of Shambhala"?
The book is a journey to Tibet that explores the 11th insight. My vision is that the insights that I write about in my books are already emerging out there. What I'm trying to do is chronicle a shift in popular consciousness, not quite mass consciousness, but the prevailing zeitgeist. It's the shift that is already happening, and I'm just trying to describe what is occurring. The 11th insight is about becoming conscious of and learning how to master and refine this power that we've always known about called prayer. The latest research has shown that it's not just something we do when we sit down and feel the need to pray. Prayer is energy, vision, and influence that we direct with our attitudes that is constant. What I emphasize in my new book is that we all have this creative power that comes out of us that influences what happens to ourselves in life, influences others, and the culture. Depending upon our thoughts and wishes, this power can either have a very positive or negative effect.
How would you suggest people use the power of prayer in their daily lives, for example, to strengthen their relationships?
Primarily, it's a question of being mindful of our thoughts and attitudes towards others. This gets into the phenomena called self-fulfilling prophecy, where what we think is not only possible, it is usually what we get. Research and education has shown that the kids that teachers expect to do well are the ones who do well, and the kids they expect not to do well are the ones who don't do well. This is true even when teachers are given false test results. It's the field that we set up. There is a energy field that flows out from us at all times and this field has a prayer effect. Our attitudes and thoughts towards others influence them in very real and direct ways. We've always thought it was okay to think bad thoughts about someone as long as we didn't impolitely verbalize them. An attitude towards someone has the same effect, even more so, than mere verbalization. This is the great change and 11th insight, which is all about realizing that our thoughts, attitudes, and expectations have that much power.
That's what all the spiritual leaders have been saying all these thousands of years.
Yes, we're finally catching up to what the mystics have been talking about. We're learning ways to study it. There are all kinds of interesting studies going on such as the study done with heart patients where a group heart patients didn't know that they were being prayed for. The patients that were prayed for had fewer complications and deaths than the control group that weren't being prayed for. So we know that prayer power exists and works. What we need to do now is refine it so that we know exactly what's happening and how prayer power works. That's what I tried to do with the book. The reader, step-by-step, hears about prayer power and is taught how to refine and increase it.
How exactly does prayer power influence us?
It influences people in the way you would expect a faith or healing power to influence. If someone walks by and you think, "That person is dressed terribly." Then because we are all connected, our minds are connected to their minds, so suddenly they take on our mind set, and start to think, "I feel bad about myself and I don't feel good about the way I look." It has a telepathic effect on their self-esteem. The reverse is also true. If we think, this person has genius within them and if we expect this from the other person, then we can actually lift them into what I call the higher self. We all have a direct effect on one another that can be positive or harmful.
This means that a great deal of personal responsibility comes into play when we accept the power of prayer.
Exactly, so what we realize is that we have a prayer power that influences ourselves and other people both positively and negatively. If we think of any limitation, for example, "I'm not smart enough to go to college," it is as if we are praying that we have that limitation. It is what we believe. Prayer power goes out and creates that future and reality. Everybody that comes into your field, thinks, "You're not smart enough," because that is what you are broadcasting in your field.
Then every thought, every word, and every action is indeed sacred, is a prayer.
Yes, and there is no such thing as a random thought that has no consequence. If we are irritable one day and we go through life being irritable, we have to be very careful because that irritation creates a kind of demeaning prayer that goes out, and we make people feel irritable too. If we expect people to be in our way or in a bad mood themselves, we can also create the bad mood within them and they will be snappy. The reason for this is because we create this prayer field around ourselves that actually influences them to be how we expect them to be--in this case negative.
So this is sort of a new spin on cause and effect.
Yes, and it is what we are realizing right now. It's next for us. We realize that we are spiritual beings with great potential. We can move into these synchronistic moments where we are led through life and the doors open up for us. We do live in a spiritual world in which we have the higher self guiding us, but we are also part of God and have the same creative power as this great source.
Are we are clones of God(dess) in a way?
Yes and it makes perfect sense. All the mystics are trying to unify with God. We are already unified with our culture and attitudes, which are the things that keep us separate, but we still have that divine power. What we do is misuse this power all over the planet.
And aren't violent movies just another form of negative prayer power?
Absolutely, movies and television create a field. For example, if you go see a monster movie, when you get outside after the movie, you keep looking for the monster behind the car. You tend to be in that same reality for a little while. The field of the movie is programming and creating the reality that is shown in the movie, for good or evil.
How can we apply prayer power to the violence happening around the country, in our schools, and communities?
I think there are several things happening in regards to school and employer revenge shootings. We are all becoming more spiritual, and on every level the octave has gone up. We are also more spiritually powerful. Ordinary slights that we may have written off fifty years ago are now extremely powerful. For example if an employee is being slighted--and this happens at work just like it does in the seventh grade--and everyone agrees that they don't like this person. Ordinarily this wouldn't hit that employee with as much impact as it does now because our prayer power has become so much more powerful. So this person is hit with a prayer that makes him or her feel terrible and it has the effect of somebody saying you are lousy individual. When someone does that you get angry and use the hate energy to fight back. This sets up that dark ego energy. Then you get into this extreme reaction and violence you see with kids in school. These kids are experiencing a very real war where the trenchcoats and the popular kids are fighting. The popular kids are like super kids these days. They are more talented than ever before but they don't know how to use their prayer power. The same kind of scapegoat, cliquishness that always happened in high school is much more powerful, so you have the trenchcoat kids getting hit with this disdain, together with no support at home. In that situation, you are either going to die or fight back.
How can we turn this around?
I think the teachers and professionals are going to have to get in the middle of these clicks and teach kids the danger of the cliquish put-downs that have been part of every high school, college, work group, everything--the time is now. Trying to build yourself up by putting someone else down has got to go. When you do that you are only building your ego power, not your spiritual power.
Then we need to relearn how to be in our world, focusing on cooperation rather than competition?
Absolutely, and we need to realize that we are powerful spiritual beings. The damage we do by putting someone else down is beyond anything we have yet realized. It's all related to how powerful this prayer energy can be.
Homeschooling is one way people are addressing some of these problems, for example teaching children that they are spiritual and are connected to God(dess). What are your feelings about this?
I think it's great, especially among people that already have an idea of how this prayer power works. Homeschooling is good because it allows the parents to get really involved in their child's education whereas they wouldn't be otherwise. It's a connection and also a real imparting of the parental ideal of reality. The child may grow up not agreeing, but the first thing a child needs to know is what his or her parents believe in, what they think about the world, and what their experiences have been. They want their parents perspective on life.
How can you apply this prayer power to work?
The purpose of working is to make life more spiritual wherever you are, and to contribute something spiritual to that profession or organization in a way that can help the world. For example, if you're an accountant, there is always a higher reason that you are there. It has to do with the prayer field that is present which is made up of all the expectations and attitudes of the people working in that particular organization. You need to bring your field into a place of work in such a way that makes a space for yourself and also transforms the work place, bringing the truth you are there to bring.
How do you deal with a work situation where you have an abusive employer?
There are two things you can do in an abusive situation. One, is you can get out. I am a firm believer that if you need to get out of that field because it is so strong, bad, and wrong for you, then it is important for you to just simply remove yourself from it. If you are going to stay, then it is important that you look at the situation the way it is and see it realistically. Next, shift your attitude. If you think everyday that the boss is going to yell at you, that is a prayer to ask the boss to yell at you. That is how connected we are!
Some people fall into abusive patterns. How do help others move out of these?
If we change our expectations and see our prayer field going out to them, then they will be raised into their higher self. Synchronistically, if you see an abuse taking place, it's not an accident that you are there in that situation. You have to find a way to make a positive difference. Using your prayer field and talking gently with the other person can often help. It's risky, but unless enough heros and heroines come forth and take the risk, the world can go backward. One of the things I talk about in my new book is that we can strengthen our prayer power. Prayer power isn't the same for everybody. First you have to get your thoughts right, where you are using your prayer power correctly, and then the power will get turned up within you. This a matter of creating with the power of our faith and expectation and visualizing this occurring. One of the things in "The Secret of Shambhala" that the reader experiences is connecting with the greater divine energy within and then having the overflow experience where you have a physical sensation of being full of energy. You then visualize this energy overflowing into the world. That in itself, creates a stronger field that goes out from you. It's united with your power of visualization.
So visualization is a main key.
Absolutely, and you fake it until you make it. Kids start off playing at being a doctor before they go on to be a doctor. It's part of our nature, set up in our programming, to visualize and then watch our vision grow stronger. The overflowing sensation is always one of love and regard. What you do is visualize a field around you with this energy as you are walking down the street. When you go into your place of employment while you are visualizing this field going in ahead of you, the field goes in and amplifies the fields of other people if you set this expectation in your prayer field before you even get there. Larry Dossey shows that you have to be very careful about using the power of prayer to manipulate people because it backfires. All you can do is to say that you want their field to be amplified so they can get in touch with their higher self intuitions. Those intuitions will lead them to their greater mission. All we have to do is amplify others. The higher self will take over. It can change the nature of the day. I have been doing this personally for a long time and I think it is the 11th insight emerging. If we set a field around us that uplifts, then the way people respond to us is from their higher self side. The most effective prayer is the one that says "May the best outcome occur." We need to hold the vision that everyone be lifted to their higher self--that's the most powerful prayer of all.