. She will have to widen her
frontiers to include the phenomena that she formerly contemned._

_The supernatural world, with its abnormal manifestations, fascinates
modern humanity. The idea of death becomes more and more familiar. We
even demand, as Renan happily expressed it, to know the truth which
shall enable us not to fear, but almost to love, death: and an
irresistible force urges us to explore the depths of subconsciousness,
whence, it is claimed, may spring the desired renewal and
intensification of man's spiritual life._

_But why is it that we do not return to the old-established religions?
It is because, alas, the Great Agony through which the world has passed
has not dealt kindly with any form of established faith. Dogmatic
theology, which admits and exalts the direct interference of the
divinity in our affairs, has received some serious wounds. The useless
and unjustifiable sacrifice of so many innocent lives, of women, of old
men, of children, left us deeply perplexed. We could not grasp the
reason for so much suffering. Never, at any period in the past, have
the enemies of humanity and of God so blasphemed against the eternal
principles of the universe--yet how was it that the authors of such
crimes went unpunished?_

_Agonising doubts seized upon many faithful hearts, and amid all the
misery with which our planet was filled we seemed to distinguish a
creeping paralysis of the established faiths. Just at the time when we
most had need of religion, it seemed to weaken and vanish from our
sight, though we knew that human life, when not enriched and ennobled
by spiritual forces, sinks into abysmal depths, and that even any
diminution in the strength of these forces is fatally injurious to our
most sacred and essential interests._

_Attempts to revive our faith were bound to be made sooner or later,
and we shall no doubt yet witness innumerable pilgrimages towards the
source of religion._

_The psychology of the foundations of the spiritual life; the
mysterious motives which draw men towards, or alienate them from,
religious leaders; the secret of the influence exercised by these
latter upon mankind in the mass--all these things are now and always of
intense interest. Through the examination of every kind of disease,
the science of medicine discovers the laws of health; and through
studying many religions and their followers we may likewise arrive at a
synthesis of a sane and wholesome fai