The psychology of magic: Where do we look for meaning in life? | Derren Brown | Big Think

Today's world has comfortably dispensed with most myth and superstition for the last few hundred years.

That's the Enlightenment legacy: we have approached a very rational approach to life. This has brought us many great things, but it has also left us with a sort of meaning gap.

Our need for meaning around the concept of death is still very present.

So it's no wonder that psychics and spiritual mediums have come in with a their version of meaning: even if they don't really offer useful, they give this impression anyway.