WILLIAM McDOUGALL 153 



tual, but physical, as though by a sudden burst of sun- 

 light In a dark place. 



This and other recurrent features of the mystic ex- 

 perience seem to run true to a definite type; and, so 

 far as I can see, there is nothing In the natural history 

 of man or In the special natural circumstances and 

 history of these persons that will explain or account 

 for the seizure and its complex of peculiar features. 

 The typical sporadic recurrence of experience of this 

 kind does seem to me to suggest strongly that some 

 non-physical or spiritual agency Is at work, an agency 

 extrinsic to the person concerned and not human, 

 whether individual or collective. 



Secondly (and here I part company with the great 

 majority of my scientific colleagues) I hold that what 

 is known as telepathic communication Is reasonably 

 well established as an occasional occurrence; that Is to 

 say, that under conditions not yet definable, one human 

 mind does sometimes influence or communicate with 

 another in some way which science utterly fails to 

 make intelligible. It may be that there is involved 

 some subtle physical medium of communication; but In 

 view of the fact that many instances of seeming 

 telepathy have occurred between persons widely sepa- 

 rated In space, it is very difficult to accept any such 

 hypothesis (however plausible it may seem for in- 

 stances occurring between persons at close quarters). 

 We seem driven to postulate a mode of communica- 

 tion that is independent of spatial conditions and de- 

 pends only upon mental conditions. If this conclusion 

 were fully and indisputably established, it would at 

 once give strong support to that view of prayer which 

 regards it, not merely as a process of personal expres- 



