Nearly two years ago, when I decided to write the book that would eventually be entitled A Magical World, my primary motivation for embarking on such a time-consuming labor was personal. Throughout my entire life (especially starting around the year 2013) I had gradually become aware of the ubiquity of numinous experiences common to men and women from all walks of life. The seeds of this began, as one might expect, from within the framework of my own faith tradition, which happened to be a conservative Christian environment. I recall several occasions, for instance, of reading about the miraculous exploits of famous missionaries and saints. I even heard tell of a few miraculous healings in our local church’s history. The power of prayer to the Almighty was well-known to me, albeit in a secondhand fashion.
Later, as I became acquainted with a certain segment of Christians involved in what is commonly referred to as the “Charismatic renewal,” I began to witness spiritual power firsthand. I was no longer confined to inspiring biographies for stories of the supernatural; instead, I was able to witness remarkable instances of preternatural knowledge and manifestations of spirit possession take place before my own two eyes. While the Holy Spirit described in the Scriptures is often relegated to a mere abstraction by many believers, I could now see what many of the earliest Christians saw: tangible spiritual power.
As I moved on to explore the “paranormal” and “psychical” areas of study, I came to recognize a wide array of spiritual experiences outside of my own faith tradition. I both read and interviewed people on the subject of “supernatural” experiences. It turns out that, far from being a marginal aspect of human experience, the spiritual dimension of our existence is inescapable. I found that we really do live in a “magical world” of sorts.
This was the genesis of my writing project, particularly as I hazarded to “make sense” of many disparate supernatural phenomena within a larger grid of understanding. As I explored this mosaic of experiences within the framework of my devotion to Jesus Christ, I resolved a number of questions for myself. The response to these explorations of mine has been overwhelmingly positive thus far, and I am beyond grateful that they have proved helpful for a number of readers.
To come to the thrust of this article, however, I must emphasize that none of my attempts at study, meditation, and writing on the supernatural would have been possible without the wide array of both academic resources as well as the many people who have been willing to share their stories. As to the former, all students of parapsychology are indebted to the pioneers of the Society for Psychical Research over a century ago, whose tradition lives on beyond their own organization through the legacy of J.B. Rhine, and, more recently, the work of institutions like the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia (not to mention individual researchers like Rupert Sheldrake).
As regards individual testimonies, moreover, I was fortunate enough to interview over a dozen witnesses of near-death experiences, spirit possession, exorcisms, premonitions, poltergeist activity, and apparitions. The more I asked around with an earnest desire to listen, the more stories I came across. Not only friends and family, but even former clients of my real estate practice were willing to share their experiences. It would be an understatement to acknowledge that the tapestry of the book would have been greatly deprived without this layer of firsthand witness.
We that live in the age of instant communication have before us an unprecedented opportunity to share our spiritual stories with one another. I have found that nearly everyone has something to share. Despite this opportunity, though, we are often incentivized to “clean up” our outward appearances. The age of social media has introduced not only photo filters and algorithms, but also an environment where one can curate exactly how their persona is perceived by the outside world. Accordingly, many of us are afraid of sharing the mysterious, hard-to-explain aspects of our personal lives. We might endanger the veneer of our curated (and often largely fictional!) persona.
Yet I have found that some of the best personal connections come from talking about the mysterious, the unexplained, and the supernatural. The late Paul Johnson, in his Quest for God, reminds us that “curiosity is a form of love.” True to this statement, the process of pursuing knowledge through these dialogues has—at least in my own experience—facilitated new levels of interpersonal trust and friendship.
Undoubtedly, moreover, it has enriched my own perspective of the world around us. And particularly important for me, it has given tangible shape to the previously abstract faith of my upbringing. Only by dialogue can we come to appreciate the intricacies of the spiritual dimension of life, and I am encouraged by the meteoric rise of websites and podcasts that specialize in interviewing people about their personal experiences. Haunted History Chronicles represents one among a myriad host of programs that are actively facilitating such dialogue.
My goal—and every bona fide searcher’s goal—is to find truth. To discover the Logos that binds all these experiences together. Of course, each person who shares his or her experience will have an interpretation of their own to go along with it. Readers of my book will recognize my distinctively Christian take on the subject: that the person of Christ constitutes the Truth, the divine Logos holding all things together.
Differences of interpretation among experiencers, however, are a necessary step along the way to greater understanding. Before we can even get to parsing out the weeds of interpretation of an experience, we must facilitate sharing the information behind that experience. As such, I offer my commendation to Michelle’s efforts at HHC, as well as to all the men and women who have been willing to contribute their accounts to our pool of knowledge on the nature of the beloved cosmos that we call home.
About the Author:
Matthew McGuire holds a degree in Biblical Studies from Crandall University (New Brunswick, Canada). In the Spring of 2024, he published A Magical World: How the Bible Makes Sense of the Supernatural, an interdisciplinary exploration of the topics of extrasensory perception, spirit possession, exorcism, near-death experiences, miracle healings, and ghosts. McGuire’s work has been praised by the likes of Dr. Stephen G. Dempster and Matthew D. Arnold and has on multiple occasions reached the “top 5” best-selling status in the categories of Parapsychology and Angelology & Demonology on Amazon.com. More information about the book can be found at AMagicalWorld.info. Other web articles, papers, and podcast appearances can be found at the author’s website: MattMcGuire.net.
