Modern Magic

The text surveys reported occurrences of so-called magical phenomena, aiming to separate genuine psychic facts from delusion by careful collection and classification of testimonies. It argues that human beings possess higher powers of the soul that can operate independently of ordinary senses and occasionally affect material events, illustrated by contemporary manifestations such as table-moving, rapping, and mediumship. The author develops a philosophic account of soul and body, contending that the soul transcends time and space, may act apart from the body, and continues to develop after bodily death, sometimes maintaining imperfect intercourse with the living. The work balances skeptical caution with an insistence on investigating these phenomena to recover any concealed truth.