The "Third Man" or helping spiritual entity syndrome

There apparently exists something that has come to be called the "Third Man Syndrome", a name for what appears to be a perhaps more frequent than NDEs paranormal appearance of a helping being of some spiritual nature, precisely when the person is drastically in need of it. The following new article goes into some detail on this, including capsule descriptions of 31 different accounts of real-life experiences of this strange phenomenon, most apparently indicative of visitation by spiritual entities of some nature. The circumstances of these events I think make other, conventional, explanations rather unlikely, such as subconsciously-induced hallucinations. Of course, then the I guess unanswerable question naturally comes up, why is there no "guardian angel" appearance in the vast majority of such adverse situations?

https://www.buzzfeed.com/angelicaamartin...e-may-2024

"Also known as "third man effect," it usually occurs when people are in extreme distress, danger, or are about to have a near-death experience. People describe it as feeling like another person is present with them in these dire times, either giving them an unexpected sense of comfort, warning them of something awful that's about to happen, or literally (and, sometimes, physically) stepping in to intervene and protect them. Some people say it's like a disembodied voice or a gut feeling they can't shake. Others...well...they are literally visited by a "third person" in the flesh."

An example:

"I was walking alone at around 1 a.m. in a statistically safe neighborhood when I noticed a group of three men walking toward me. I was an 18-year-old girl without a weapon, and I felt absolute terror wash over me. I knew these men meant me harm. Suddenly, the men stopped walking, and one said, 'Sorry, guys. We didn't see you there.' I looked at them in shock, but they weren't looking at me. They were looking next to me. I knew then that I wasn't alone, even though I couldn't see my companions. The men could see them, and that's all I cared about. I heard two extra sets of heavy footsteps until I was about a block from my house. I thanked them and didn't ever go walking in the middle of the night again."

Of course, then the I guess unanswerable question naturally comes up, why is there no "guardian angel" appearance in the vast majority of such adverse situations?

We could also ask why chemotherapy doesn't have a 100% success rate, or how people die in floods when others get rescued by boat or helicopter?

In the mundane cases there seems to be some indeterminism, at least in regards to knowledge and human ability. IMO something similar is happening with these third man cases - sometimes there are spirits close enough to help, other times for whatever reason their access - or perhaps even their interest - is limited.

I have wondered much the same . When I hear horrible stories and no one intervenes , meaning nothing “paranormal,” and then one hears stories of seeming situations , which are intervened upon, I don’t understand why some would experience That and some wouldn’t , especially when considering Certain danger , even death. 

Interesting theory one woman had, believing her brain recreated her husbands voice to turn off fan … maybe so..

But what if stories such as this , where the “person who helps,” is deceased , but unknown to the one being helped at the time .

I’ve read or encountered stories like that over the years of reading .

"I guess unanswerable question naturally comes up, why is there no "guardian angel" appearance in the vast majority of such adverse situations?"

That is a valid question. 

I don't know the full answer, but it is my understanding that if you have a materialistic outlook it is harder for THEM to get through to help you. If you are more spiritually inclined your mind is more open than that helps them to get through. If you are praying at the time, ie in open contact, that is the condition when it is easiest.

I'm sure there can be exceptions, materialistic people who get help, spiritual people praying who don't. There are many possible reasons for that, it would be impossible to say in any particular case. It can be karma, or lessons to be learned, or providing a situation for the perpetrator to learn from. I don't know all the possible reasons. We take our life much more seriously while we are here than we do before and after so it's hard to understand why we would have the experiences we do.

Maybe if something is about to happen that you didn't sign up for before birth, you would get help to prevent it from throwing your life plan off track?

Also on a related topic, in non-emergency situations you can get spiritual help in proportion to the effort you put in to accomplishing your goals.

Thanks for raising this topic. I don't have anything to add right now but I do think it is something very significant and important. I know cultural interpretation makes it harder to study. But to study it properly one needs to see past those overlaid layers and try to take a simpler look at the account as described by the experiencer.

We could also ask why chemotherapy doesn't have a 100% success rate, or how people die in floods when others get rescued by boat or helicopter?

In the mundane cases there seems to be some indeterminism, at least in regards to knowledge and human ability. IMO something similar is happening with these third man cases - sometimes there are spirits close enough to help, other times for whatever reason their access - or perhaps even their interest - is limited.

Yes, sometimes when a bad result with no intervention occurs, it might be indeterminism, just the "luck of the draw". But I think that there may be another explanation in some cases like this, if "helping spiritual beings" are usually readily available, but choose not to intervene for reasons related to the notion that humans sometimes are actually intended by their souls to experience the tragedy or bad event perhaps as part of a life plan decided upon in the between lives period of the reincarnation process. Just speculation of course, but I think this phenomenon probably is quite complicated, like most things turn out to be when examined carefully and deeply, and sometimes all of the alternate explanations for non-intervention offered by previous posts could apply to some isolated cases. We, experiencing life as human beings that can suffer, not souls, would have ample reason to protest over such upcoming adverse life choices, but of course to no avail. That may just be the way the system works, and we are part of this system, whether we like it or not.

Of course, my suggested "soul choice" explanation for some non-interventional cases where the tragedy or very bad event apparently was allowed to happen, could also apply to the intervention cases, where soul choice was the actual reason for the spiritual being intervention.

Of course, my suggested "soul choice" explanation for some non-interventional cases where the tragedy or very bad event apparently was allowed to happen, could also apply to the intervention cases, where soul choice was the actual reason for the spiritual being intervention.

I think the challenge here is that the world seems completely chaotic, and not built like a school at all.

The world isn't exactly like a prison either, but if I had to pick between prison and school...

I think the challenge here is that the world seems completely chaotic, and not built like a school at all.

The world isn't exactly like a prison either, but if I had to pick between prison and school...

Personally I don't buy into the 'school' idea. It is from my perspective simply a present-day religious ideology which some have promoted. It isn't something with which I agree or disagree inasmuch as I'm not trying to find the 'best' religion.