But because of its connection with power, the miraculous seduces some into magical thinking. Both the fraudulent and the profound appear at first to violate our expectations. Science has learned to examine puzzling new phenomena from all angles to see if there isn't a way of accounting for them from known principles. New evidence may force scientists to revise their best, most comprehensive theories, but only as a last resort. This essential feature of science is captured in an oxymoronic description that scientists sometimes apply to their methodology--radical conservatism.

The appeal of the mysterious has its origin in our desire to free ourselves from any "box" in which we find ourselves. Our vicarious delight in the escape artist's success is an expression of our will to freedom.