The Seven Levels of god
This is a fascinating thread...... thank you for posting it.
I have found Deepak Chopra's book, "How to know god" to be so helpful in finding a spiritual pathway that is credible, and has dramatically opened my spiritual horizons.
Like Padraig and Isabella, I grew up in Ireland (Eire). The tentacles of religion (NOT spirituality) crushed any budding spirituality right out of me. It has taken the Alzheimers Journey to make me wonder if there is a purpose or sense in all this suffering and sadness and loss.
The God of my childhood, even thought I was never a Catholic myself, growing up in Ireland, the culture was Catholic, as was the politics, the morality, the social forces. Here I grew up with what Chopra deems a "Stage One God" (the lowest level of spiritual understanding), where God was vengeful (he can punish the good and wicked alike with floods, fire, storms and disease/pestilence); capricious (this god has a frightening temper); quick to anger; jealous (poor Abraham was expected to sacrifice his own son); judgmental (meting out reward and punishment); unfathomable (we mortals could never be expected to comprehend His mind); and sometimes merciful (the god who wipes out a whole village in a tsunami and spares a handful = we were chosen, his chosen people).
God at this level is one who resides in our reptilian brain. We can be struck by a car (like my husband's dad was leaving two under 12s as orpans) in the blink of an eye. We can be forced to loose our minds, our memories, our will and our very thoughts through dementia. And the carers are forced to witness this. This is the lowest level of god, and certainly not the one I choose to know and rely on or be guided by!
Chopra explains we can each judge for ourselves at what level of god we have attained by observing our own behavior.
Level 1 is the fight-or-flight response -
Level 2 is the reactive response and we act out of ego and personality -owning power
Level 3 is the restful awareness response - silently witnessing what is
Level 4 is the intuitive response - the knower within
Level 5 is the creative response - co-creator with God
Level 6 is the visionary responsee - enlightenment (Chopra puts Jesus here)
Level 7 is the sacred response - the source of all - at one with God
It is a fascinating read and has certainly helped me to make spiritual sense out of dementia and being a carer. Of course if we stay at levels 1 and 2, all we can do is rant, rage and curse god and our lot. But once we realise there are these other levels, well, a whole new God-Universe opens up that is uplifting and exciting and meaningful.
I wish I could condense this into easier to understand morsels...... Marianne Williamson has called Chopra a 'spiritual genius'. I agree. Life is more fun and less capricious lived on the higher levels of god. Freedom beckons when we can finally leave the shakles of organised religion behind and really start to experience god, without and within.
Of course, I am not there yet. But making slow and careful steps out of the quagmire of 'canned religion'. BE
Spiritual Aspects of Dementia
For those of you who are spiritual, I'm just wondering if any of you have thoughts which lend a spiritual perspective to going through dementia. Are there any spiritual lessons to be gained through the journey of either the care giver or the victim?
Or do you have any spiritual perspectives related to any aspect of dementia which helps give you strength, or to make sense of the whole cruel dementia experience?
This is a fascinating thread...... thank you for posting it.
I have found Deepak Chopra's book, "How to know god" to be so helpful in finding a spiritual pathway that is credible, and has dramatically opened my spiritual horizons.
Like Padraig and Isabella, I grew up in Ireland (Eire). The tentacles of religion (NOT spirituality) crushed any budding spirituality right out of me. It has taken the Alzheimers Journey to make me wonder if there is a purpose or sense in all this suffering and sadness and loss.
The God of my childhood, even thought I was never a Catholic myself, growing up in Ireland, the culture was Catholic, as was the politics, the morality, the social forces. Here I grew up with what Chopra deems a "Stage One God" (the lowest level of spiritual understanding), where God was vengeful (he can punish the good and wicked alike with floods, fire, storms and disease/pestilence); capricious (this god has a frightening temper); quick to anger; jealous (poor Abraham was expected to sacrifice his own son); judgmental (meting out reward and punishment); unfathomable (we mortals could never be expected to comprehend His mind); and sometimes merciful (the god who wipes out a whole village in a tsunami and spares a handful = we were chosen, his chosen people).
God at this level is one who resides in our reptilian brain. We can be struck by a car (like my husband's dad was leaving two under 12s as orpans) in the blink of an eye. We can be forced to loose our minds, our memories, our will and our very thoughts through dementia. And the carers are forced to witness this. This is the lowest level of god, and certainly not the one I choose to know and rely on or be guided by!
Chopra explains we can each judge for ourselves at what level of god we have attained by observing our own behavior.
Level 1 is the fight-or-flight response -
Level 2 is the reactive response and we act out of ego and personality -owning power
Level 3 is the restful awareness response - silently witnessing what is
Level 4 is the intuitive response - the knower within
Level 5 is the creative response - co-creator with God
Level 6 is the visionary responsee - enlightenment (Chopra puts Jesus here)
Level 7 is the sacred response - the source of all - at one with God
It is a fascinating read and has certainly helped me to make spiritual sense out of dementia and being a carer. Of course if we stay at levels 1 and 2, all we can do is rant, rage and curse god and our lot. But once we realise there are these other levels, well, a whole new God-Universe opens up that is uplifting and exciting and meaningful.
I wish I could condense this into easier to understand morsels...... Marianne Williamson has called Chopra a 'spiritual genius'. I agree. Life is more fun and less capricious lived on the higher levels of god. Freedom beckons when we can finally leave the shakles of organised religion behind and really start to experience god, without and within.
Of course, I am not there yet. But making slow and careful steps out of the quagmire of 'canned religion'. BE