Brain researchers around the world are working hard to find the cause of senile dementia, but so far without success. All that has been found so far - lesions in the nerve tissue - are not causes of the disease, but its consequence. The disease is affecting an increasing numbers of people in the western half of the world. Because senile dementia is accompanied by complete mental and physical decline, it is unpleasant for the patient and his/her relatives. The patient, up to a certain point of decline, is still aware of his/her situation, and is therefore distressed by the knowledge that he/she is less and less able to carry out his/her accustomed activities. Later on, he/she is unable to conceive of his/her situation, while the relative may be confronted with the signs of deterioration on a daily basis. After a certain level of deterioration, it is no longer possible to care for these patients at home, as they require 24-hour supervision, and their placement in nursing homes is also limited, leaving them in inpatient wards of hospitals, where they are condemned to a slow death. The exception is, of course, if someone is able to spend a considerable amount of money to pay for 3x8 hours of nursing care for them, but even then, the decline cannot be reversed. There is no known cure for the disease.  

In the following I will interpret the disease from the point of view of esoteric psychology. If one accepts and understands this, one can avoid a similar fate for oneself later on. 

The central nervous system (hereafter called the mind) is seen as a computer with a background storage memory (winchester) and an operational memory. To use a simple analogy, we identify the background memory with the permanent memory, where we store data that can be retrieved at any time. Operational memory is the short-lived memory, where temporary information is stored, overwritten again and again by the current data, and from which important data is constantly transferred to the permanent memory.  Anyone who regularly works on a computer knows that after a while, various programs, information and error messages start to accumulate in the background memory. Everything related to the operation is automatically stored, and the user also consciously saves a lot of data that he/she intends to use later. If the computer is not maintained, it slows down after a while and then freezes more and more often. In such cases, experts recommend expanding the memory or reinstalling programs. What is natural for a computer, why does it seem unthinkable for the human mind, either the faults or the correction of them is considered?  

The initial symptoms of senile dementia are exactly the same as the symptoms that our computer produces when it starts to run out of background memory. The short-lived memory simply fails in patients, while the long-lived memory continues to function perfectly for a while. The reason is that information can no longer be transferred from the operational memory to the background one because it is nearly full, so the operational memory is always overwritten with new information. The retrieval of data from persistent memory, the remembering, will continue without problems for quite some time. At this point, the patient can remember perfectly what happened when he/she was six years old, but has no idea where he/she put the spoon that was in his/her hand a minute ago. If maintenance is neglected, the recall of memories becomes slower. This is because there must always be a certain amount of empty space in the background store, where data is moved. If there is no room for data movement, retrieving information that has already been committed will take more and more time and eventually slow down to the point where it becomes impossible. The patient remembers less and less of the events of his/her life, but is still able to carry out everyday actions. Later, only some of these remain, e.g. he/she can still make coffee, but he/she is no longer able to perform the sequence of actions related to cleansing. Eventually everything falls out, he/she no longer recognizes anyone, he/she talks to himself/herself, coherently for a while, then incoherently, and eventually these ceases too and he/she is no longer conscious. 

We can only erase from the mind those memories that have been processed. So, our mind-computer is full because we have processed very little of the vast amount of experience that we have accumulated in our life(s). Because of the lack of processing, they are in a jumbled, disorganized state and take up much more space. There is also fragmentary information, unconnected to anything, waiting to find its place in the processing. If processing is delayed, the disordered pile of fragmentary memories takes up huge amounts of storage space and hinders rapid recall. 

Our spiritual self-knowledge training gives you the opportunity to gradually process and clear your mind and then delete unnecessary information. This involves the shedding of enormous spiritual burdens. It is advisable to start this process as soon as possible because, unfortunately, experience has shown that after the age of 60, the mind becomes so bogged down in its own patterns and so full that the practitioner is unable to absorb the necessary knowledge. In other words, the maintenance program cannot be loaded because the memory is filled up! And the repeated installation of the programs needed to function is nothing more than a rebirth after death.

Margaret Rhasoda Varga
(UCCM head-master)
2022, Budapest, Hungary