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(2017) Self, culture and consciousness, Dordrecht, Springer.
"Is grandma still there?"
a pastoral and ethical reflection on the soul and continuing self-identity in deeply forgetful people
Stephen G. Post
pp. 95-109
This metaphysical and pastoral reflection focuses on a question that over several decades has been posed to me by many family carers for deeply forgetful people (persons with dementia). The question may take different forms: Is my loved one still there underneath all of this confusion? Is my loved one's soul still present? Will she come to rest fully intact in the arms of a Supreme Being? Could she be "gone' but already somewhere experiencing the fullness of divine love? After 25 years of working with the deeply forgetful, this reflection provides a response to what I have found to be the biggest pastoral question of them all because it has to do with the need to find meaning in caring for deeply forgetful people. The question is answered in a balanced way that affirms the believer's idea of an eternal non-material soul while also affirming those carers who reject the idea of a non-material substrate but are nevertheless able to find meaning in the hints of continuing self-identity. I conclude with an affirmation that no matter how limited rational capacity may be in any human being, so long as they are not brain dead, they retain consciousness, and no one human being should ever have the audacity to assume that his or her consciousness is somehow more valuable than that of another (e.g., deeply forgetful people, individuals with cognitive developmental limits).
Publication details
Full citation:
Post, S. G. (2017)., "Is grandma still there?": a pastoral and ethical reflection on the soul and continuing self-identity in deeply forgetful people, in S. Menon, N. Nagaraj & V. V. Binoy (eds.), Self, culture and consciousness, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 95-109.
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