Colin Wilson came to realize, through his own cathartic experiences, that all of us are in fact manifold personalities, that we each consist of a ladder or hierarchy of selves, and that the upper members may be called upon at will. He explains how these discoveries led him to the view that our integral multiple personalities are the explanation for a wide diversity of paranormal phenomena, from dowsing and demonic possession to precognition and spoon-bending. "Man's being is like a vast mansion, yet he seems to live in a single room in the basement."