The theology of channeling, then, brings together disparate influences — among them, spiritualism's emphasis on the inherent divinity of humankind, the epistemological relativism of contemporary academic and commercial discourse, collective uneasiness about rigid mortality, and a longstanding American faith in the power of positive thinking to define our fate — to produce a synthesis in which the self's sacred destiny prevails over the arbitrary rules of society.
— Michael F. Brown, The Channeling Zone