When author and therapist James Redfield self-published his first novel in 1993, the immediate ground swell of enthusiasm from booksellers and readers made The Celestine Prophecy (Satori) one of the most successful self-published books of all time.

James Redfield was 43 when he published The Celestine Prophecy, which chronicles Nine Insights into a greater spirituality.

He has been keenly interested in human spirituality all his life. Born on March 19, 1950, he grew up in a rural area near Birmingham, Alabama.

From an early age he was motivated by a need for clarity about spiritual matters. Brought up in a Methodist Church that was loving and community-oriented, he was nevertheless frustrated by a lack of answers to his questions about the true nature of spiritual experience.

He later received a Master's degree in counseling and spent more than 15 years as a therapist to abused adolescents. All along, Redfield was forming ideas that would eventually find their way into The Celestine Prophecy.

In 1989 he quit his job as a therapist to write full-time, synthesizing his interest in interactive psychology, Eastern and Western philosophy, science, futurism, ecology, history, and mysticism.

Using an adventure parable approach that has been called "part Indiana Jones, part Scott Peck," The Celestine Prophecy created a model for spiritual perception and actualization that resonated with millions of people and focused on the mysterious coincidences that occur in each of our lives. Disdaining the spotlight himself, Redfield proclaimed in The Celestine Prophecy that each of us must intuit his own spiritual destiny.