Where Magic Is Real

In his 2007 book, A Secular Age, the philosopher Charles Taylor drew a distinction between pre-modern and modern people as porous versus buffered. Pre-modern people lived in an “enchanted” society where spirits and supernatural forces could cross over into our material plane. Individuals consequently believed in prayer, superstitions, alchemy, and talismanic objects that would protect them from evil entities.

Now, in our modern age, there is a firmer boundary between our selves and these forces. Our concerns are more for tangible threats such as disease and infection, which can be delineated and managed through science. (This has not stopped Internet conspiracy theorists from indulging in their own flights of fancy.) However, by cutting ourselves off from the demonic, we are also cutting ourselves off from the divine. What sort of angst and nihilism would be born of the complete death of God and the supernatural? Is a world of rigid materialism one we want...