Embodiment – our “being-in-the-world” is validated by others (or not). We must move beyond the imposed golden standard of “normality”. In these really crazy times that we live in with Boris and Trump, we can actually start questioning what is “normal”? Who decides how anyone should BE, what is “the right way” to behave?
Living with a different ability (and here I do not refer to Boris or Trump) does not mean that we are no longer human, and no longer have citizenship of autonomy or power. We are stepping out into the world differently, but no less real (maybe a lot more real) and no less human. It is when the world strips us of our power and citizenship that we “suffer”, not from having Alzheimer’s, but from the way that we are treated by the world.
When memories go, our embodiment is our presence and standing, both literally and figuratively speaking. And remember, we are always conscious of our being-inthe-world. And when we can no longer speak, our embodiment narrates our story. Embodiment is also our Divine expression – we are the manifestation of the Mystical Mind. It is not as if we suddenly have no purpose, indeed I believe that we ful ll a Higher purpose in our embodiment when we can no longer Be the way that we were before. We are now teachers…
It all sounds very esoteric and “airy-fairy” some might say. I know. It is! For me, a part of what is happening in this crazy world is exactly that – we have lost our Humanity. We have lost our sense of Being, we no longer see/feel/sense the Divine. People are reduced to the biomedical phenomenon, the brain. They are robbed of their identity because we can no longer see/feel/sense their reflection of us, of who WE truly are. In this disconnected world, we have become so private and individualistic that we no longer really care about each other, about the planet, about our Selves.
Living with memory loss, neurocognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer’s – call it what you want – does not mean that we are no longer living. And while we are living we have the sanctity of Life and deserve to be full citizens, not hidden away in Frail Care Centres or fancy villages specially designed for us. We should have the right to be who we are, different, in the world from everyone else. And everyone else, who have so-called “normality” and should be able to make sound decisions, must learn to live with our difference, respect us for the way we are now expressing our Selves, see in us that “there but for the grace of God go you and I”.
Only once we stop the segregation, the institutionalization, the medication, and the stigmatization, will we start to create a life worth living for people whose minds have changed.