There is a common belief that the brain controls the body. This is a physical perspective of how the body works, which assumes that the brain is a mechanical device that produces conscious thought. A contrasting thought sees the brain as a processor of energy in the form of thought & emotion.
What science is discovering is that our body works on three levels, or holons, of existence. There is the physical or organic holon, of which we are conscious, and also the cellular holon and the atomic holon, of which we are aware but cannot consciously see.
Science, as yet, has no answer to how these three holons of existence come into alignment. The brain is a part of a physical set of organs, is a unified mass of co-operating cells and is also a mass of unified molecules, atoms, strings or energy vibrations; so what is unifying all of these elements to co-operate in the way they do?
If the answer to this question is our DNA, who indeed wrote the code and who decides to make every human being individually unique, yet universally the same? Perhaps when we can answer these questions with certainty, we will also know what makes the human body malfunction; if in fact it is malfunctioning.
In my experience, nobody ever does anything that they believe to be wrong. They may do something that other people judge to be wrong but even a psychopath is driven by the belief that what they are doing is in their best interests, from their individual perspective of what is occurring in their life.
I am not conscious of the beliefs that I hold, I am only conscious of the way I behave, which is always in alignment with my beliefs. When I behave in a way that I believe to be wrong, I am challenged to look at the beliefs that are sponsoring that behaviour. I then have a choice of changing the behaviour, changing the belief or changing my conviction that the belief is wrong. Right or wrong is just a judgment based on my personal perspective of what is beneficial or detrimental to me, and to other people.
With dementia, those choices are no longer apparent. When I am no longer conscious of my incompetent behaviour, due to my mental incapacity, I stop making choices. It is not my choice that has been taken away but because, due to a fear of being incompetent in the choice that I make, I deny myself the ability to choose.
We all need help, from time to time, to make important choices. With dementia, I eventually need help all of the time, to make every single choice because I have decided from experience that making choices for myself is no longer beneficial.
Dementia is the inability to make conscious choices. Choice is an ability that dementia patients deny themselves. Nobody wants to make detrimental choices, so in the absence of knowing what is good for me, I choose to deny myself the choice of choosing what is bad for me.
I can look at the disconnection of the sub-conscious mind as something that has happened to me or I can see this disconnection as something that I have sub-consciously chosen for myself, without my conscious knowledge. The Self that is making this choice not to choose is the sub-conscious Self or the sub-conscious mind that I call my Id.
From this perspective, the sub-conscious mind shuts itself down because it cannot see any clear or beneficial alternative. In the absence of any reasonable programme to run, the processor shuts down. The chaos, isolation & fear that dementia causes is not because of the mind malfunctioning but because the mind believes that any choices that it makes will result in a malfunction.
The mind is not capable of malfunctioning, if it is not mechanical. Whereas the brain may be seen as physical, mechanical or functional; the mind is either free flowing or restricted.
Any restriction, entropy, inertia or chaos that the mind experiences is because of behaviour that is caused by its own belief system. Fears & limiting beliefs are of the mind’s own making. Fears are a construct of the limiting beliefs of the mind. Reality is a perspective based on the beliefs, opinions & convictions that are held in a person’s sub-conscious mind.
When I fear I cannot do something, I don’t. When I believe that I am incapable of doing something, I am. Dementia is a malfunction of the sub-conscious mind caused by the sub-conscious mind choosing not to function.
Every human mind is uniquely individual even though every human brain is similar in function. Every human mind is sovereign, with the ability of choice. The most common choice that all human beings make is to deny that they have a choice.
With dementia that denial appears to be progressive and permanent. Perhaps the best medicine for dementia patients is to remind them that they are not ill and being well is a choice.