reply to post by tide88
The following explains quite well the difference between being witness to an accidence (or in this case a plane crash) and an innocuous plane fly-by;
bearing in mind that when the NoC witnesses saw the plane, the furthest thing in their head was that the plane a few seconds later would make impact
with a building - and therefore no need to automatically close the eyes at that particular point in time, of course!
"......
The personality, represented by the visible human body, thus consists of three factors: 1) the psychic, 2) the astral, and 3) the physical brain.
Naturally, of these only the physical brain is manifest in the earthly world.
1) The psychic brain18 is the seat, or source, of thought and will and also of conscious action—guided by the thought and the will. All knowledge,
experience, learning and so forth that the psychic brain receives can by the help of thought be transformed into both psychic and physical values and
results. Thus, thought, guided by the will—for either good or for evil—analyzes, coordinates, recreates, refines or sorts everything it receives,
then radiates the resulting material through innumerable facets of more or less brilliant nuances, all in accordance with the preceding process of
thought. The more advanced the spirit whose psychic brain is the main factor of the human personality, the more prolific the activity of the thought,
the more diversified the nuances and the brighter the radiance of the facets. Every thought process regardless how faint or short is perceived
concretely by normal persons, since they can to a greater or lesser extent “feel” their thoughts working. All these thoughts that have been
reflected upon come into permanent possession of the individual. Values derived during life on Earth from experience, learning, and so forth, are
retained by the spirit from incarnation to incarnation and increased with each new incarnation.
In this way, through the process of thought, each individual builds or shapes his or her spiritual personality.
2) The astral brain, on the other hand, automatically accumulates and retains all impressions received during earthly human life until given occasion
to reproduce what it has received, exactly as recorded, with no additions.
This can be illustrated as follows:
Someone gazes, say, at the ruins of an ancient castle. If the visual contemplation is accompanied by thought, an image of what is seen will be
formed—through the vision and the physical brain—in both the astral and in the psychic brain. But if the viewer gazes unthinkingly upon the ruins
and surroundings,19 as so often happens, then only the astral brain captures a reflection of that seen. The psychic brain remains unaffected, when the
thought does not react to the vibrations of the astral cells. Later when, for some external reason—perhaps seeing a somewhat similar scene—the
image of the ruin recorded in the astral brain automatically emerges in the physical brain, reproduced there exactly as the astral brain once received
it. If the thought now concentrates on this emerging image, the image also assumes definite form in the psychic brain. Then, with the emerging image
of the ruins from the subconscious as a start, the person can, say, by the power of thought, create a splendid castle with ramparts, moats, and so
forth—a probable reconstruction of the original castle now in ruins. It is thus the thought that has worked upon and utilized the image of the ruin
that was preserved and automatically reproduced by the astral brain, as the latter is able only to repeat that received, not to form from it.
The astral brain is affected not only through sight, but also through the other senses—hearing, smell and so forth. Impressions of experiences,
events, sounds, tones and so forth can thus reappear on a given occasion—can be reproduced, that is, exactly as they were received.
An example follows of the many automatic movements humans perform with the help of the astral brain during everyday life:
In a room are two washstands, separated by a cupboard. Normally, a mirror hangs by a nail over one washstand. Someone enters, their psychic mind
momentarily engrossed in a train of thought far removed from the immediate situation. However, the person’s eye catches sight of the mirror, lying
at that moment, for example, on a table where it does not belong. The person’s astral brain instantly produces a mental image of the mirror hanging
on the wall and, without interrupting his or her train of thought, the person takes the mirror—quite automatically—goes toward one of the
washstands, holds up the mirror and lets it slide down the wall to allow the string to catch on the nail. The move fails and is repeated three, four
or five times, still quite automatically. But with the repeated moves the vibrations of the astral brain cells awaken the individual from his or her
thoughts. The train of thought started long before is thus suddenly interrupted, and the thought of the individual is willfully given a new direction.
He or she lowers the hand holding the mirror, studies the wall and through the concentration of conscious thought discovers there is no nail whereon
to hang the mirror—the nail is over the other washstand. The astral brain (the human subconscious) was incapable even of the following reasoning:
that the mirror would not hang upon the wall because there was nothing to hang it on. Not until the vibrations of several unsuccessfully repeated
movements awakened the individual’s consciousness—the spirit— could the subconscious error of the astral brain be corrected.
Finally, an example of the way a human being, to whose physical body an undeveloped spirit is bound, can, through autosuggestion believe he or she has
“seen” every detail of an event, even though it was perceived only in fragments:
Someone witnesses, for example, an accident that is due to several “coincidences”. The shock of being present at the maiming or sudden death of
one or more fellow beings causes an involuntary closure of the witness’s eyes—perhaps for only a few seconds. The image that through the sight and
through the physical brain is registered in the astral and the psychic brains is then quite incomplete, since these can receive an image only of what
the witness has “seen”. Later, recalling what took place and what he or she experienced, the witness tries by thought to piece together the
recorded fragments. As an “eye witness”, the witness should of course know what had happened, but not recalling20 closing the eyes21—perhaps at
the decisive moment—the witness’s thought sets about reconstructing a plausible general impression: it happened in such and such a way. . . But
with the constant repetition of such thoughts, new images assume—through the thought-channel, the cord—definite form in the astral brain. These
images appear with every repetition of what the eyewitness has experienced, and, supported by the thought, they become steadily clearer until the
individual becomes convinced of having seen the accident in every detail; and although he very well knows that his thoughts have dwelt at length on
the same subject, still he is deceived by the train of images that his thought has composed. As a rule it is useless that another eyewitness unfolds
the event for him as it has really taken place, for he will, in most cases, stoutly maintain that his is the correct version.
Such uncritical thinking serves no other purpose than to push back the original exact but fragmented image received by the astral and the psychic
brains and to produce a train of self-composed images having nothing to do with reality.
If a more advanced or a high spirit is bound to the physical body, such self-suggestion will not be able to take place as the spiritual self will
quickly survey the situation and understand that it has received that which has happened only in fragments. And if the individual tries to gather
these fragments into a complete picture, he or she will likewise realize that it was their own thought which had filled in the gaps.
Thus, the astral brain, the human subconscious, can never formulate, combine nor create new thoughts from its unconsciously stored knowledge—its
impressions, learning, motions, or anything seen, heard or read—since it is able only to reproduce that which is received.
3) The physical brain—the receiver and communicator—is the only apparent factor in the human personality that, being an organ, is easily subjected
to human scientific investigation. But since the other two factors cannot be materially investigated as can the physical brain, mankind has hitherto
been unable to recognize these two non-visible but highly important factors—important, because so much of the human personality can only be
explained and understood through their existence. ......."
From a work titled "Toward the Light". 1920.