In the book, Between Heaven and Earth, a team of spirits is helping a confused spirit, who is tied to the household of his granddaughter. One member of the team applies magnetic passes to assist the old spirit to regain his memory. The object of the passes is to reestablish his memory connections so the team may determine what is keeping him in the house in a stupor like state.

One of the team members ask how can the old spirit begin to spontaneously regain his ability to retrieve his memory. The team leader answers:

“Yes, of course. The memory may be compared to a sensitive plate, which , when struck by light, stores forever the images collected by the spirit during the course of its innumerable learning experiences. Each one of our soul’s particular lifetimes is an added experience that is preserved in the prodigious archive of images, which. even though superimposed on one another, never become jumbled up. During endeavors of assistance like this one, we need to search the mental archives in order to produce certain types of vibrations, not only to attract the presence of spirits that are connected to this suffering brother but also to unveil the hidden fibers of his mind that keep him bound to his afflictions and unseen wounds.” [Between Heaven and Earth, 2011, p.85]

I am going off on a little tangent here, before I get to Psychic surgery. Bear in mind this book was published in Portuguese in 1954. Computers had core memory which is basically magnetic cores wired to be either on or off. Memory was very expensive. Personal computers weren’t even a twinkle in anyone’s eye at the time.

Now, how does an optical disk work, there is a single layer, but there is also a dual layer optical disk that stores data superimposed on the top of one another. Dual layer discs have two reflective layers sandwiched between the label side and plastic side instead of one. The first of these layers is semi-transparent, so the laser can change its focal length and read through it to the next layer.

When the concept to light storing information to a plate is described in the book, that is exactly how data is written to an optical disk.

Now back to Psychic surgery; the team leader further explains:

“The mind, just like any other part of the body, can and must endure interventions in order to become rebalanced. Someday, human science will develop psychic surgery, just as today it is developing its surgical techniques with the needs of the physical body in mind. In the grand future, doctors will unravel a mental labyrinth with the same ease with which they can now remove an inflamed appendix.” [Between Heaven and Earth, 2011, p.85]

Therefore, hopefully one day, relief may be coming to mentally disturbed individuals. Although I also hope this is never used for nefarious purposes.