With dementia reaching epidemic proportions today, most of us know someone with this terrible disease. And we would all wish to avoid succumbing to it ourselves. While there's some limited medical advice on the subject - the usual exhortations to a healthy life, including eating a sensible diet, exercising, learning new skills and so on - scientists really don't know how to prevent it.
As with most diseases, there seems to be both a genetic component and an environmental influence. We can do nothing about our genes - yet - but we can certainly change other factors. And I wondered whether Gurdjieff's advice on the use of centres could help here.
As you'll recall, he warned that if we overuse one centre, whether it be the intellectual, emotional or instinctive/moving, that centre would "burn out" faster than the other two. He called this "dying by thirds". Might this apply to the development of dementia? Are dementia patients those who both have the relevant genes and who have also relied too much on the use of the intellectual centre?
As far as I know, no studies have been carried out with this idea in view. Although Gurdjieff's ideas are still considered "fringe science" by some, the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), based on Jung's concept of the four psychological functions, certainly has credence in most circles. Why then should scientists not study the course of dementia in a longitudinal survey, focussing on those who identify as mainly "Thinkers" in the MBTI? Such studies could be very fruitful.
In fact, a few years ago, one such study did conclude that those who had apparently "overused their memory function" in youth (the study's words) were more likely to develop dementia than those who did not. And this bears out Gurdjieff's theory. But more work needs to be done to confirm these results. The patients concerned all had one of the dementia genes, and so did those of the "control" group, but it was only those who had studied particularly strenuously in their early years who developed the disease.
Of the three people I know personally who have developed dementia, all three seemed to me to be intellectual centre types, though this sample is far too small to be of general use.
But another Work idea seems to me to be of great importance in the progress of dementia. That is: if personality is stolen by this horrible disease, what is it that will be left behind?
The answer would appear to be: either False Personality or Essence.
Can this be borne out by observation?
I think it could. But we would have to know the subjects very well to be able to judge what has happened. In the three examples I'm about to give, I was able to watch quite closely what happened to their psyche as the disease worsened. And the results surprised me.
First, the "good" example, the patient whose Essence seemed to emerge as the disease stole away the other parts of their mind.
This was my maternal uncle, a very bright, intellectual-centre person (an Enneagram 7), who remained alert and intelligent into his 90s. In his mid-80s, he learned to use a computer and mastered the Portuguese language sufficiently well to be able to oversee his sister's estate and negotiate with her Maltese and South American lawyers. That he was able to do this at such an advanced age astonished everyone, but throughout his life Uncle R. had shown great initiative and intellectual capability.
Although he didn't believe in a traditional religion, my uncle was the finest example of a Good Householder that I've ever known. Along with his second wife, he faced many reversals of fortune due to circumstances beyond his control. The family had to relocate and my uncle find new work while in his 50s, and while raising a family in difficult conditions, yet he managed to do so with good will and without ever becoming depressed or resentful.
He simply did his best in every situation to take what life had flung at him, to bring good from difficulty, and to support his family as well as various charities that were dear to his heart. I often stayed with him, and I never once heard him express a negative emotion. He was, to me, exactly what a Good Householder should be, and I have no doubt that he will reach enlightenment very quickly in his next life - or even sooner.
Dementia struck when he was 92. He began to forget names and events, and got lost when driving close to his home. Eventually, as the illness continued, he stopped recognizing some old friends and family members. He began to need help with the simplest tasks of living, and because my aunt could not cope alone he had to have nurses and carers come in each day to look after him.
All through this he has never once complained. He smiles frequently, seems quite content with his very limited state, and expresses gratitude to all around him. Like a contented child, he allows others to care for him and relishes the company of his wife and children, even though he doesn't always remember their names. He is one of the most loving, compassionate people I've ever known.
And what I see in him now is his Essence. His personality has vanished, there is absolutely no False Personality left, and he is pure, childlike Being. But he radiates a Presence that a child does not possess. You know you are in the company of an adult, even though he cannot express adult thoughts, and you also feel you are in the presence of goodness. Everyone remarks on this.
On the other hand, both the other people I've known well deteriorated emotionally as well as intellectually when dementia took hold.
One woman, who'd experienced severe depression as an adult, was in her pre-dementia days a model middle-class housewife. Brought up in a large house with servants, she often complained about the lack of help she faced as a married woman, but nevertheless kept her home immaculate. Her children were well-dressed and well-fed, her husband's clothes were always beautifully ironed and pressed, and her manners towards all were impeccable.
When she began to exhibit signs of dementia, however, her behaviour became quite shocking. She would swear at friends and family, hit her husband in public, wander confusedly around the neighbourhood, and hallucinate.
When she could no longer be cared for at home she was placed in a very good nursing home, but her behaviour grew even worse. She had to be restrained because she would physically attack or throw objects at the staff and other residents. She cursed her nurses and doctors with real venom, and in her rare quieter moments would curl up and whimper on her bed.
She had regressed to early childhood, but she was a "not OK child", in Transactional Analysis terms. What was left of her seemed to be her False Personality and a very under-developed Essence.
Likewise, I watched another woman, of similar background, undergo identical deterioration as she became more and more unwell. She too hit out at the people caring for her, cursed and insulted everyone within hearing range, and exhibited only False Personality I's. And what was most worrying was that this 85-year-old lady had been a Movements Teacher in the Work. As her mind was gradually taken from her, I would have expected her Essence to emerge, as has happened with my uncle, but no: there was still so much False Personality left that it completely swamped whatever remained of her Essence.
I don't think these cases are due to gender differences; I merely have a very small sample, so it's very hard to draw any conclusions from it. But we all know of the state of Iris Murdoch, the philosopher and novelist who became the "poster lady" for dementia. In her last stages it appeared as though she, like my uncle, became pure Essence.
So what, if anything, can we say about the possible influence of the Work on dementia? With a sample of this size, very little, unfortunately. But it does seem that people who live as Good Householders and who as a result become more balanced may have a smoother descent into dementia, if they are unlucky enough to experience that disease.
In the case of the Movements Teacher, I did not know her full state of health. It's possible that cancer, from which she also suffered, had begun earlier to steal her mental health; that it was this illness, and not her dementia, which had "stolen" her brain, and by pressing on the areas associated with negative emotions had reawakened them after many years of dormance.
As for the other lady I have described, I don't think she ever undertook any psychological or spiritual work. She was unhappy in life, and remained so. She made no efforts to change her state, and her dementia revealed the full extent of her troubled mind. No trace of her Essence could be seen as she gradually lost her reason.
I only wish we had more studies so that we could better understand the illness.
In their absence, all we can do is to try to become balanced men and women, avoiding the overuse of any one centre, and never letting a day go by without working on ourselves. If we are to suffer dementia, perhaps it will a part of our Fate - a very unpleasant one, perhaps, for all concerned, but nevertheless in some way conducive to our own development.
Or perhaps our illness will provide the occasion for our families to develop compassion. It could even be that this is a task we accepted before we were born, so that others might be helped through our sacrifice.
The two ladies whom I mention above have since died, their deaths coming as a release. We cannot know the state of another's spirit, but we do believe in a loving and merciful God. We can be sure that He has them in His care now, and that they no longer suffer.
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