On the Origin, Idea, Scope, and History of Ancient and Modern Magic

in such a connection that the former is subject to the influences of the latter.
As the good spirits—by whatever name they may be called in the various languages of the peoples—so too can the evil spirits, whatever they may be called, come to the earth; just as the former do, these also have an influence on humans, and can work in and through humans, be it for their benefit or for their ruin.
These assumptions, which we, from the standpoint of our current intellectual Cultur culture/civilization, either reject as superstition, or, if we incorporate them into our theological and philosophical systems, transform into dogmas which we attempt to explain in a methodically artificial way:— *) we find these assumptions among all peoples, in all ages, and in all parts of the world, regardless of how the good or evil invisible beings are named by the various tribes, or how they are conceived by them as active and standing in relationship to man.
This changes nothing in the matter—the belief in them is present, and everywhere it is the same belief.
Can it be otherwise? It proves that man, at no stage, can deny his origin, that his inner being and life is rooted not in the material, but in the spiritual. Therefore, the

*) For we have not yet progressed so far in our dogmatics that we would understand how to transform their dogmas into eternal ideas; but the time will come when we learn to do so, and then the great and small disputes of the theologians will resolve themselves so completely that one will look at them and ask with admiration, what was it that one was arguing about?