Bettina Wichers

“Conscious dissolution of the self is the evolutionary potential of ageing.”

Conscious aging—a conscious life practice
Transcending dementia—a necessary change of perspective
Transpersonal gerontology—a consequential enhancement

I see myself as a transpersonal gerontologist, consciousness researcher and a dementia specialist with unusual perspectives on this phenomenon. However, these pages are not limited to my professional identity, as my personal insights and experiences have become interwoven with my professional expertise, resulting in new perspectives on my professional focus, dementia. From an extraordinary experience of consciousness, an experience of nothingness, my initially prominent and, for many, provocative hypothesis emerged during a long and intensive process of transformation:

The conscious dissolution of the self is the evolutionary potential of ageing.

Ageing is much more than simply the transition to death – it is a fascinating phase of life that is not only important for individuals, but also for the communities and systems in which older people live. My approach to Conscious Ageing is a way for people as they grow older to explore and tap into this potential for themselves.

In this context, Transcending Dementia means questioning and transcending the narrative of dementia as a disease, i.e., going beyond it and viewing it from a higher perspective. I do this as a gerontologist, an experienced practitioner in the field of dementia, and a consciousness researcher. I see the phenomenon of self-dissolution, which I myself have observed as a clinical supervisor in gerontopsychiatric care for people with advanced dementia, as central to the development of dementia. However, to understand this, we usually have to go back 20 or 30 years in a person's biography, because that is where the first symptoms often appeared—in their statements and behavior.

In this context, I see a clear parallel between dementia and spiritual awakening – and I love it when I can spark an understanding in people for this hypothesis, which at first sounds crazy but is actually quite logical!

With this in mind, I have developed new approaches to further training in the field of geriatric care and, in particular, the care and support of people with dementia: I believe it is necessary to enable caregivers to become aware of the consciousness of people with dementia through information, but above all through empathy and practice in the phenomenology of confusion. Dementia is a state of consciousness—and to understand it, one must try to empathize with it. Training intuition is equally important in this regard.

Conscious Ageing is a central approach with which I want to inform people about the nature of aging as a process of consciousness and development, and about the power and resilience that lies in consistent consciousness work in order to age consciously and not slip into unconscious ego dissolution—dementia. I support people in developing and practicing this consciousness work for themselves through seminars and personal guidance.

I offer people surprising, inspiring, stirring, and even confusing perspectives on aging—combined with broad academic knowledge, profound professional expertise, a high capacity for complexity, and the ability to translate complex ideas into understandable language. However, many things need to be heard or read several times. This is due to the unusual and astonishing nature of what I have to say about aging. Give it a try—organize a living room seminar with me for yourself and your friends, or book a one-on-one conversation with me: [email protected].

If you don't know me yet, you can get a first impression of me by listening to a podcast.

As a researcher into ageing, as a gerontologist, I have asked myself – as I imagine all researchers into ageing, consciousness researchers and many other people have – what the evolutionary purpose of ageing might be, what the reason is that we continue to live so long beyond the reproductive phase, and often in good health for many years.

There are several theories that attempt to explain this, from the “disposable soma theory" to the theory of “gerotranscendence”. Through my research on dementia, ageing, but also on consciousness itself, I gained insights and experiences of consciousness that led me to a different understanding of dementia than that conveyed by the conventional biomedical narrative, and in turn opened up a perspective on a possible evolutionary potential of aging that revolves around conscious self-dissolution (rather than the unconscious self-dissolution in dementia).

In my understanding, old age is a distinct phase of consciousness development in which the individual potential within each of us can reach full maturity and fulfillment—without denying the possibility of increasing frailty, illness, pain, and the approaching end of this physical existence. It is a stage of maturation that can be as unstable as puberty, because an old identity – the personal identity, the adult identity – dies and makes room for an identity that we can call transpersonal identity or “we” identity. This perspective on ageing enables people to perceive themselves in a completely different way, to question the meaning of their own lives once again and thus to embody what wanted to come into the world through them and still wants to – for the benefit of the communities and the greater whole of which they are a part.

In recent years, these perspectives have transformed my professional identity from that of a gerontologist and educator in training and further education as well as in clinical supervision in gerontopsychiatric care to that of a transpersonal gerontologist. As such, I combine findings from dementia research and consciousness research to form a perspective on ageing as a process of consciousness development, the culmination of which may lie in the moment of physical death, in the complete and final dissolution of the self as the center of gravity of human existence. I therefore also understand ageing as a unique process of maturation in the lifespan. 

These pages and my work as an orientation and development guide in ageing revolve around this maturation and development process; as a conversation partner for people who find themselves in a process of self-dissolution, in whatever direction; as a lecturer, teacher, coach for those who work with people in the process of ageing; as a speaker at conferences and conventions.

The question "Who am I?" is probably one of the most important questions of human existence, and the endless questions that our everyday consciousness asks itself throughout the day and spends a lot of energy trying to answer all of them meaningfully lead from or to it. An impossibility, and not just because of the distractions of our time.

And the next questions arise immediately:

"What is the meaning?"

"What is meaningful in my life?"

"What am I here for?"

existential questions that people have asked themselves at all times.

All of these questions take on their own significance as we grow older, and they have to be evaluated differently in the face of increasing loss, a shortening perspective on life, illness and, in particular, in the context of declining cognitive abilities.

Who am I now, this person after family time, in retirement, in old age?

What story have I told about myself in my life so far?

What remains when this story increasingly dissolves?

I see ageing as a potential for completing the experience of being human, as a potential for realising the higher self and thus also for consciously transcending the personal self and opening up to other dimensions of consciousness.

This process of transformation leads—possibly via the above questions—first of all to a conscious perception of personal self-identity and can then, beyond the personal self, enable the transition to a transpersonal consciousness, which includes increasing self-transcendence. Behind my hypothesis regarding the conscious dissolution of the self lies a further hypothesis which places the developmental potential of ageing within the context of knowledge about the potential for spiritual development:

“Spiritual awakening is the evolutionary potential of aging.”

This has long since become a part of my core beliefs, combining spiritual experiences, decades of professional expertise, and scientific research: Ageing is the phase of life that serves (spiritual) awakening – the profound, often radical breakthrough of consciousness to an awareness of a previously unimaginable nature of one's own being and the world, which can include the transcendence of all material existence. Aging can also be understood as awakening from the limitations of personal identity—a process that can be deeply confusing!

The increasing slowing down and turning inward in the ageing process is the “cosmic brake” that can enable this process and, in my opinion, “should” enable it – in the sense of the evolutionary development of human consciousness. This process enables us to become aware of our Higher Self – and in becoming aware of and realizing the potential that lies within it, we in turn make an immeasurably valuable contribution to the relationships, networks, and communities in which we live. Ageing then becomes a collective development booster.

Spiritual awakening occurs through a process that can be described as the dissolution of the (personal) self. It is possible that not everyone will achieve complete awakening in this lifetime. However, an increasing detachment from personal identity – an increasing transcendence of the self – is possible through the process of conscious ageing. And therein lies an enriching potential – both individually and collectively.

However, the process of awakening can be extremely confusing, especially when we know nothing about its nature because neither our culture nor our official religions have informed us about it. And even if the ageing person has knowledge of spiritual realities, it can be confusing and disorienting to experience these changes in oneself. Nothing really prepares us for it; even the most intense spiritual practice cannot anticipate the experience, although it can prepare and accompany the opening. Spiritual and gerontologically informed guidance is therefore needed in this process. Informed communities and networks can also have a relieving and integrating effect.

I dedicate my being and my work to precisely this: offering support, providing information, and helping communities to make old age the unique phase of development for which it offers the perfect conditions: spiritual awakening, the dissolution of the personal self, and the transformation into a collective, cosmic “we,” from which the transition from this existence, dying, and death no longer represent danger or loss, but are instead an expression of the completion of life.

I accompany people who want to consciously embrace their own ageing as a path of development, as a transpersonal transformation process or as a spiritual journey, and who want to approach the dissolution of the self and spiritual awakening with curiosity and respect – in conversations, coaching and counselling, in written exchanges, seminars and lectures.

I accompany people who are confronted with dementia, who perceive the first signs of a development that could lead to unconscious ageing or dementia, or who are at least uncertain because they perceive occasional forgetfulness and orientation problems in the world around them. It is these people who are particularly close to my heart, and it is for and with them that I am researching a new awareness of dementia and the possibilities of halting and possibly even reversing such a development through consciousness work.

I accompany relatives, friends, and caregivers of people with dementia in their efforts to gain a broader, deeper, more conscious perspective on this phenomenon and thereby contribute to a collective transcendence of dementia.

And I accompany people in professional contexts, who are looking for demanding support in their own consciousness development beyond post-conventional consciousness, but also beyond that, and for extraordinary consciousness experiences in themselves or in clients.

A conversation with me is usually one thing above all else: it expands your knowledge and consciousness! [email protected]

• see ageing as a pinnacle of life?
• accept dying as a transition or even as an awakening?
• view dementia first of all as a state of consciousness, as disorientation in the world and in one's own being, and not as an illness?
• consider the parallels between dementia and spiritual awakening as a phenomenological (and possibly neuroscientific) reality, which recognises the dissolution of the self as a central experience in both processes?

The associated broadening of perspectives has partly grown slowly within me, and partly it has arisen within me through my own, unusual in the context of our material world view, so-called spiritually transformative experiences of consciousness, which required a longer phase of integration from me. So I know from my own experience both the challenges and the opportunities of such transformation processes for understanding one's own existence, and now see them as a natural condition of aging.

Thus, in my work, I combine my professional expertise and specialist knowledge with my in-depth experience of transformative consciousness processes and spiritual crisis, and as a conversation partner, coach and supervisor, as well as a teacher, I invite you to broaden your perspective:

• to view dementia as an invitation to strengthen the ‘I’/ the self and
• aging as an invitation to transcend and dissolve the ‘I’,
• to understand consciousness not only in evolutionary but also in involutionary terms,
• and to be inspired by my thoughts regarding the nature of this existence and our own being.

Most of the insights I share on this website were gained during several years of research, during which I withdrew from my previous professional life and from almost all social contexts. This was necessary in order to explore and document my experiences in depth and to compare them with scientific findings. I write about this process at Nothingness. I have exhausted all my resources for this research and am now asking for support so that I can continue it and present it at conferences: Support. If you would like to support me directly, you can do so via my GoFundMe campaign or on Paypal via [email protected]. Thank you very much for your support!

This website, like myself, is in a continuous process of growth and change. Some pages will only appear over time, just as we can only gradually become aware of certain areas of our own consciousness, the world, or the cosmos itself. With each new insight, our perspectives on various aspects of existence change, so my texts will also change again and again. This sometimes results in breaks, dead links, and incomplete texts. If you like, please let me know: [email protected]

With this website, I am attempting to address a broad spectrum of consciousness levels—and I may not always succeed. In my consciousness, I hold the tension between advanced dementia, which I have witnessed as a case supervisor, and “late” levels of consciousness, which are fundamentally accessible to me, but not always. It still seems to me that it is too much for a single person to be constantly aware of this spectrum of consciousness, and this is evident in many places on this website: sometimes it is too simplistic, the design perhaps not up to date, while the texts are often very complex. I ask you to bear with me and support me so that I can become better and better at holding this sometimes almost insane paradox of the disappearance of the self in dementia and the disappearance of the self in spiritual awakening.

If you want to know who is behind this site, you can find more information about me under I am. You can find more about my basic gerontological perspectives under Transpersonal Gerontology. One of the most radical changes in my consciousness has been in relation to my previous professional focus, dementia, which may be of particular interest to those who know me from professional contexts in earlier years - I give a little insight into my thinking about dementia under Transcending Dementia. My thoughts on what we can do to allow aging to unfold its evolutionary potential can be found under Conscious Ageing.

 I am. 

The moment, where I come to rest in my being and marvel at this miracle of human existence.