Everybody has different stories about where I came from. Nobody really knows.

I think therapeutic spirituality has largely been a help in the modern world. So the fact that people can approach religion with practical needs.

People need doorways to explore universal religious and ethical ideas.

When spiritualism dawned, suddenly women who wanted to engage in the civic and religious and political culture were becoming transmediums.

Americans were in love with mesmerism because it was something that you could do in your own home. You could mesmerize or hypnotize your aunt or your mother or your father and people would go into these trance states and you could introduction autosuggestions tot hem or as some people saw it, you could cure them of illnesses.

Even back in its colonial days, America developed a reputation as a safe harbor for people with unusual or radical religious beliefs.

America became a special source of attraction to people who were fleeing the aftereffects of the 30 Years War and the religious persecution that began to sweep through Europe in the period between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. And when people got here, very often they succeeded.