Alzheimer's Disease - When a Person's Soul Hibernates

The Straits Times carried a report on Alz Disease Last Saturday, 27 Sep 08.

My mother suffers from Alz for over 10 years. This disease degenerates the mind, the soul and finally the physical body progressively. In fact, the mind and the soul is dead long before the physical death.

At the start of the illness, forgetfulness and absentmindedness set in. The mind fails, along with the nervous system fail gradually. The patient regresses to the mental state and the faculty of a 3 years old, then a 2 years old, then a 6 months old child. Finally, the patient does not know how to open her mouth to suck or swallow food, the stomach and intestines do not know how to digest food. And then, the body succumbs to malnutrition or failure to breathe...

Unlike other illnesses, the patient has to be cared for 24 hrs by 7 days a week. It takes one to two full-time caregivers to manage one patient at the ending stages.

Looking at the situation my mother is in, I could see the different entities of the human being -- the physical body, the mind, the soul and the spirit. My mother is a non-christian, so she may not have the spirit. With the mind 90% destroyed, she is only capable of basic involuntary functions like breathing, digestion, slow walking, and secretion of waste matters.

Since she is without a lucid mind, I would not detect her soul. There is no expression of joy or sadness, no thoughts of goodness or evil, no thoughts of love or hatred, no thoughts of earthly or spiritual things, no thoughts of right or wrong...

Without a mind capable of thoughts, I believe an alz person's soul is de-activated. One day, when the soul is liberated from this earthly body, it would recall or be aware of the eternity of life again.

Alz is a terrible disease. Honestly, it's a mystery why we are plagued by it.

Thoughts of a Seeking Mind

This is one of my favourite passage. It truly shows that God is Love: (Gen 18:20-33)

And the Lord said: "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry..............."

Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

And Abraham came near and said "Will Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50 righteous who are in it?... Shall not the JUDGE of all the earth deal justly?"
So the Lord said "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account."
And Abraham answered "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. Suppose the 50 are short of 5, wilt Thou destroy the whole city because of 5?"
And God said, "I will not destroy it if I find 45 there."
And Abraham spoke to Him yet again, "Suppose only 40 are found there?"
And God said, "I will not do it on account of 40."
Then Abraham said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry...suppose only 30 are found there?"
And God said, "I will not do it if I find 30 there."
And Abraham said, "Behold I venture to speak to the Lord. Suppose 20 are found there?"
And God said, "I will not destroy it on account of the 20."
And Abraham said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once. Suppose only 10 are found?"
And God said, "I will not destroy it on account of the 10." And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, the Lord departed. Abraham returned to his place.

God did not have to pause and think before answering Abraham. From the swiftness of God's answer to Abraham, I can see God's nature is Merciful and Kind.

The story continued. Apparently there were not 50, not 45, not 40, not 30, not 20, not 10 righteous people in the city. Only Abraham's family members were righteous and they were told to leave the city before the whole city, and all the unrighteous, were destroyed in a hail of brimstone and fire.

This 3rd anniversary of the Asia Tsunami tragedy reminded me the above biblical story. I have no doubt that God is in control of peace and war, disasters, epidemics, life and death.

But I am still wondering if there were 10 righteous people among those who perished in the Tsunami. We will not know the answer. Perhaps, just perhaps, there were 9 or fewer.

The answer is not important anyway. It is just a thought of a seeking mind.

Hallelujah!