It's somewhat convoluted and
the Lexicanum explains it better than I can but I'll try to summarize the basics. Reality in 40k is divided between two 'dimensions,' the Materium, which is the 'realm' subordinate to the laws of physics where almost every species lives, and the Immaterium, which is a 'realm' comprised largely of emotions that are generated in the Materium and feed back into the Immaterium. The Immaterium has no laws of physics and its logic or lack thereof is subordinate to the will of those that inhabit the Immaterium, or those that are able to 'tap into' the Immaterium, 'psykers', to blur the lines between the Materium and Immaterium, to use the latter to manifest psychic phenomena that are impossible under the laws of physics. The problem is that 40k is, much later on, a horrible place to be where there is Only War™ etc., so the emotions of Materium going back into the Immaterium are negatively influenced, which means that over time, the Immaterium underwent degradation from its naturally calm, placid state to a hellish nightmare.
Entities made of emotion native, sometimes referred to as morally spirits when ambiguous, but most commonly as daemons, with an extremely negative connotation, were similarly negatively influenced and, as entities made of emotion, instinctively do all they can to further spread and cultivate their source emotion, whatever it may be. These daemons are prone to corrupting the minds of the weak-willed and/or mentally ill who succumb too strongly to a certain emotion, as in, axe-murdering frothing-at-the-mouth levels of anger as opposed to mild frustration or annoyance, and psykers who aren't capable of resisting their influence when they 'open' their soul to the Immaterium/Warp. This almost always leads to significant damage to the psychic individual and most often those around them, so despite the numerous benefits of psychic power, such as causing flesh to regrow and heal wounds, or generating lightning to kill an opponent there is a significant, likely permanent risk to the well-being and sanctity of the immaterial consciousness clinging to the physical body or 'soul' of those who partake in it.
At the moment, the Warp/Immaterium isn't currently a hellish nightmare, only another dimension, but Glass was concerned with the risk of coming to depend on psychic power and not having the resistance to avoid negative consequences when the timeline goes down the drain and the Warp/Immaterium follows along with it in a self-perpetuating cycle of negative emotion and conflict to stave off the worst of the consequences, which again, feeds back into the negative emotion, requiring conflict, which again... and so on, and so on, in an endless downward spiral. It's a very reasonable thing to be concerned about, but an argument could be made in either direction.
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Topic: You are a Minor Xenos Species in Warhammer 40k (Read 23628 times)