All proceeds from the usual propensity of mankind towards the marvelous, and that, though this inclination may at intervals receive a check from sense and learning, it can never be thoroughly extirpated from human nature.

It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling of objective presence, a perception of what we may call “something there,” more deep and more general than any of the special and particular “senses” by which the current psychology supposes existent in realities to be originally revealed.

We impose order [on the world] even when there is no motive to do so. We do not “want” to see a man on the moon. We do not profit from the illusion. We just see it. […] The predisposition to impose order can be so automatic and so unchecked that we often end up believing in the existence of phenomena that just aren't there.

The human information-processing system is such that we should expect ostensibly paranormal experiences to be frequently reported even if paranormal forces do not exist.

The ease with which we see faces, in particular, has led to the idea that we are inclined to see supernatural characters at the drop of a hat. Each year some bagel, muffin, burnt toast, potato chip, or even ultrasound of a fetus showing the face of some deity is paraded as evidence for divine miracles.