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The greatest delusion of the human race is the division between mind and body.

How a person thinks about their body is a direct reflection of how they think and feel about themselves.

This is because the body is in itself the whole person, but the mind thinks in terms of “my body” as though there are two of us. This is the root cause of all destructive and unnatural behaviour.

The body craves exact foods to nurture and sustain life. The displaced and unfeeling state called mind, craves the substances that damage the body, increasing numbness and further mind from body displacement. The displaced or detached mind causes this same havoc and perversion in all the simplest acts of living.

To think from a displaced mind, towards the secondary object “our body,” creates a numbing in the body and a further displacement between what we have imagined to be “these two parts of us.” Without feeling the effects of this destructive, unnatural thinking from within ourselves as a body, we lack the essential felt response required to stop it and so the behaviour continues.

The greatest delusion of the human race is this displaced sense of ourselves as an entity separate from the reality of the living, breathing, feeling and thinking organism. Only this displaced mechanism of thought can think or act destructively. The body has no natural function that is destructive. It operates from an alert felt sensitivity rather than a restricted thought sensitivity. This inherent natural intelligence renders it incapable of destructive behaviour.

The function of feeling is the bodies’ alone. Displaced thought is numb to the body and therefore numb to feeling. The impact one must feel to promote change is beyond the capabilities of thought alone. Change is an organic occurrence within the living organism.

Change occurs as a response to the impact the “whole being feels” when behaviour, at any level, is displaced and is therefore destructive and unnatural. It is this, the total act of feeling and not the partial act of willful thinking that promotes change. Change is by nature spontaneous and requires the total act of feeling to come about. This is real meditation.

Two aspects of thinking

Incorrect thinking

When thought is born of memories it is not born of fact, the reality of life today. It is born of old stories, of other thoughts in fact. There is a total separation or disassociation from the facts of life as it is: therefore there is no possibility of recognizing and understanding the truth of yourself and life each day.

Notice the strange effect of thinking born of memories, of yesterday. There is only interpretation of the facts of yourself, your life and others today. Bias, opinions and beliefs build a psychological barrier between you and the reality. There is no interest in the facts as they are, only in manipulating the facts for your own ends. This is the root cause of confusion and isolation.

Correct thinking

Notice, when you think only in response to the factual circumstances at hand, or when thinking comes from the felt sense in the body (rather than from the bias of your memories). That thinking is the expressed understanding of life each moment. Such thinking is not separate or disassociated from the immediate reality of life, there is only interest in what is real, regardless of what it may reveal. Such thinking dissolves all confusion and isolation and is in itself sustainable clarity.

Instead of living your life as it is each day you think about it. Thereby you postpone living and life passes by whilst you are thinking about it. Just live your life. When you walk, just walk. Don’t walk and think about it. Just walk and you’ll experience life. Be alive. When you drive (apart from mechanical thought necessary for the act of driving) don’t think outside of the immediate circumstance and you’ll experience life in acute awareness. When meditating don’t concern yourself with any thought or technique, just experience yourself, the living organism, alive with sensations and in that moment you are in the truth of yourself. Anything more than this is not the real, it is not meditation.

Life is the real. Your thoughts and words chattering about it are why you are numb, insensitive or confused. Out of that confusion you think and worry about yourself. Which of course gets you no-where. To understand yourself and life, just live with it, as it is. Whether responding to your environment or quietly alone, experience yourself in and as the very sensations, the vibrating life in you the body – the living breathing organism. Thought arising from this, the reality of life, is correct thinking. This is to live in spontaneous, dynamic understanding.

Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting about 5.3 Americans, and it is expected to grow to 15 million Americans with this disease by the middle of this century. Almost everyone has heard about the condition, and we even see advertisements on television for medicines that may be able to slow the progression of the disease. What we probably do not hear a lot about is that Alzheimer’s commonly is accompanied by other neurological problems that caregivers and Alzheimer’s patients’ providers should be looking for.

While challenging to diagnose in patients with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, depression reportedly affects as many as 20 to 32% of dementia patients. It is particularly common with those who manifest vascular dementia. It is hard for providers to diagnose, because the confusion or lack of focus common to depression also are frequently the hallmark of dementia as well. As a caregiver, be alert to insomnia or hypersomnia as well as agitation or suicidality in patients who have been diagnosed already with Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition to medications that may be effective in treating the depression, therapists encourage caregivers to encourage focus on positive aspects of life, happy memories and noteworthy accomplishments of the individual.

About one in five patients with dementia may also show signs of anxiety, especially in the early stages of the dementia. It is less common in Alzheimer’s, however. Because anxiety will be particularly sensitive to situational stressors, it will be important for caregivers to report the anxiety that may manifest itself as irritability, restlessness, tiredness or difficulty sleeping through the night to the provider.

Memory lapses can fuel some delusions among Alzheimer’s patients and result in outright hallucinations in as many as 15% to 20% of patients with dementia. The incidence of these psychoses will increase as the dementia progresses, and agitation that typically is characterized as “angry outbursts” or blatant aggression has been documented in 27% of patients some form of dementia. These episodes are more pronounced when an Alzheimer’s patient is challenged by a new situation or an unfamiliar environment. As common are cases of outbursts or failure to cooperate in bathing, dressing or other activities of daily living where assistance may be required.

So, as if caregiving is not complicated already, the individual who is responsible for a partner or an older adult with Alzheimer’s of other dementia needs to remember that they are not just treating the memory loss. There are other psychological dynamics that will challenge a caregiver, and it will be important to treat all identifiable conditions in order for the treatment of any one to have a chance at being effective. So, take notes on behaviors that may seem out of character beyond the short term memory issues so that a medical professional will be able to diagnose any of these other co-morbidities that may be accompanying the dementia. With everyone on the caregiver team collaborating, the elder or other person with special needs will be assured better care.