Accept this world as it is, says sociologist

JAKARTA (JP): History shows that man's attempt to create "paradise" on earth will always end up in hell, an expert said here Saturday.

"It is much better to accept that nothing is perfect in this world," said sociologist Ignas Kleden in a discussion on the American best-seller Celestine Prophecy at the News Cafe, Setiabudi Building in Central Jakarta.

Ignas said the book, written by former child therapist James Redfield, gives the impression that human beings are on their way to a greater spiritual awareness of themselves and nature, a paradise on earth smacking of utopian philosophy.

"A utopian ideology is on par with a totalitarian ideology. People with an utopian idea will force others to adopt their view," he told an audience of 200 people, including professionals, intellectuals, students and businesspeople.

The discussion, moderated by Wimar Witoelar, was jointly organized by Gramedia publishing company, Paramadina Foundation and the Institute of Press and Development Studies. Another speaker at the discussion was pop singer Opie Andaresta.

The novel traces an American's adventures in the Peruvian rain forest in search of a manuscript containing nine insights into life and spirituality.

"The message is that the more spiritual a person becomes the more freedom one has and hence the more weightless one feels. Similarly, the more obsessed one is with worldly matters the less freedom one will have," said Ignas.

Another expert, Karlina Leksono, said the book contains some faulty information.

"No one knows whether the Big Bang theory is right or wrong. Surely it is not in the way described in the book. As a cosmologist myself, I can't claim the theory is right. But then it is a novel (not a scientific work)," she said.

Karlina said it was important to keep a distance and be critical in reading books, including Celestine.

Asked whether God is a form of energy or otherwise, Karlina said: "No, it is impossible to find out such a thing (through cosmology)."

She compared man's attempt to understand God and his universe to a man digging a tunnel aided by science. They may succeed in going through the tunnel, but to get to the other side of the cosmos there are numerous tunnels to open.

The book discusses energy in the universe and the importance of linking up with that energy to free oneself from the traps of the physical world and live in harmony. War, according to the book, is caused by man's alienation with nature and people's unrelenting scramble for energy.

Other weaknesses of the book, Ignas said, was that it fell into "spiritual romanticism" and determinism.

Spiritual romanticism, he said, was an imaginative attitude that everything can be overcome with spiritualism.

"Imagine if social ills like poverty can be solved in a week through spiritualism," he said.

The book's determinism character, Ignas said, was evident from its proposition that everything will be alright as long as people return to nature.

Redfield, who took two years to write his first book, once told an interviewer that Celestine explains how to experience spirituality.

A magazine describes his book as a synthesis of interactive psychology, Eastern and Western philosophy, science, futurism, ecology, history and mysticism.

Eastern philosophy in the book prompted some people in the audience to ask: "Why do we always have foreign books writing about something familiar to us?"

The answer, Karlina said, may lie in their skills as a writer.

"They have knowledge about those philosophies which we are also familiar with, but they have a better ability to present them," she said. (hbk)