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April-June, 2012

An ACIM Inspired Perspective on Alzheimer’s

by Rev. Curtis Graf, M.D., O.M.C.

Question: I would love an ACIM-inspired interpretation of Alzheimer’s. I am living with and caring for a relative who has been diagnosed. I’ve gotten good support from a group but it doesn’t feel adequate. I am a long time Course student and would like help with a perspective on this ‘disease.’ 

Rev. Curtis Graf, M.D.: I am a retired Neurologist and a Course student. As you know any attempt to explain an illusion within an illusion is like trying to explain a dream while still dreaming, but I’ll try. I saw many patients with Alzheimer’s disease and there always seemed to be a sense of withdrawal from life. This was associated with a lot of denial and the biggest denial of all was that anything was wrong with them. This often led to paranoid delusions where they would accuse family members of affairs or care givers of theft. They had fixed beliefs that they could not seem to let go of.

I suspect some of these beliefs represented their deepest fears in life which they could not let go of and which worsened with time. But the memory loss of their disease gradually lessened these fears and the beliefs associated with them. I believe this condition is chosen by their ego mind to reduce the guilt and fears (mostly unconscious) that have plagued them in life and for most of them I think they are successful. I was always impressed by many of the patients who eventually became peaceful and docile. They had no more thoughts, guilt or fears that plagued them.

In this world of illusion we eventually get to a point where we start looking for a way out. Without the right guide (Holy Spirit), we choose insane ways to escape and I believe Alzheimer’s disease is just one of these ways. Many people just choose to leave the world early by dying, but Alzheimer patients may be scared of death and therefore choose a more protracted way out.

These patients deserve only our love, compassion, and acceptance. As we try to see the face of Christ in them, I believe it will help them to see that they have another choice and that is to choose their right mind. Fortunately we are all children of God in Spirit and these illnesses we invent are unreal, harmless, and neither good nor bad.

© 2012, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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