Unique Forgetfulness (Dementia) Care
Great human beings are those who do not lose their child's heart.
— Mencius
Pacific Institute invites a shift in how society understands and approaches Dementia, starting with the term itself. Rather than this often stigmatizing and demeaning label, we prefer "Forgetfulness." From a medical point of view, Dementia is understood as a "progressive decline in mental functioning." It is caused by a disease or by damage to the brain. If we view the brain as the ultimate source of all psychic life, Dementia seems to be a tragic loss of what is most human in a human being. With the loss of each brain cell, a part of the Psyche disappears.
But are we sure that's true? Though the medical paradigm would have us believe that consciousness, or the Psyche, is a product of the neurological activity of the brain, the mystery remains. We do not know where the soul dwells. We don't even know if it is the cause or effect of brain activity. We do not really know who is the boss, if there is a boss.
In our program we want to create space for this mystery.
We see Forgetfulness as a meaningful phenomenon, as a soul's search for itself independent of personal history or past recall. We do not know what the role of the brain is in this journey. But we know from experience that everyone, no matter what their state of consciousness, is looking for contact with others and with his or her own inner experience.
To read more about Forgetfulness Care, please visit http://deeperintothesoul.org/