in his earlier books markides seems content to see any psychic phenomenon as of interest and value in itself and is also quick to draw (apparent) parallels between different religions or to gesture towards "the perennial philosophy". however, he has gradually moved away from these assumptions. speaking to kevin allen he avers "... it was a revelation to me that there might be something over and beyond the physical material universe. so, that was the starting point. then, of course, i realized that there are grey areas and there are problematic kinds of phenomena [that not all] are good, necessarily." it is not clear where markides stands on some of these issues now.