I'm at the Ruined City level in LoK:Soul Reaver. I have already turned on the furnace, which gave me access to a new block to push into the courtyard. After stacking that block over the existing one, I reached the upper passage on the other side and arrived at the room where you have to climb the multiple platforms in the spectral realm. Once I reached the top, I jumped across to the portal to the physical world, switched to physical, and then back again across to the lever mechanism.

However, the lever doesn't operate. Hitting "A" just swings around the soul reaver, as if I was in the spectral realm (but I'm on physical). Am I missing something or is it a glitch?

Edited: to clarify it's about the LoK: Soul Reaver game.

I don't know what I did differently this time, but it worked now. I think I may have stood farther from the wall, closer to the edge of the platform, but I'm not sure. Or maybe it was an intermittent glitch that did go away this time. I remember I had tried this many many times before.