Waking up vs. falling asleep of consciousness in old age

Triggered by the presentation of my model of consciousness development in old age at the online conference of the European Society for Research in Adult Development (ESRAD) in June 2025, I came up with the idea of specifying the ninth stage in Erikson's model of psychosocial development in my model of consciousness development in old age:

Joan Erikson, Erik Erikson's wife, who always collaborated on his research, had noticed in her own and Erik's old age that the last (eighth) stage of the previous model did not reflect this phase: Joan and Erik Erikson had experienced frailty, loss of control, loss of self-confidence and self-esteem more than they had previously imagined. She then reviewed all eight stages in relation to age and raised the (little-known) discussion of a ninth stage of identity development in old age, without, however, formulating two poles, as was characteristic of the previous eight stages, which show the possible outcomes of the maturation crises of the respective developmental phase.

From the discussion at the ESRAD conference, the idea emerged of a previously unrecognised polarity in the final phase of life, which arises from my model (below):

• Awakening of consciousness vs. falling asleep of consciousness (old age)

Before I continue: My developmental model focuses exclusively on development in old age (and not on the entire lifespan as Erikson does) and is a developmental model of consciousness that includes biological, cognitive, psychosocial, interindividual and collective aspects of consciousness as well as the aspect of ‘spirit’, i.e. a ‘higher consciousness’.

Joan Erikson would not have been unfamiliar with the latter understanding of consciousness, as she also explicitly referred to Tornstam's then still young research on gerotranscendence: ‘... simply put, gerotranscendence is a shift in metaperspective, from a materialistic and rational vision to a more cosmic and transcendent one, normally followed by an increase in life satisfaction.’ (Erikson, 1997, 124). Even if I would like to question the word ‘normally’, her thoughts, like those of many other researchers in the broad field of psychosocial research who were already in their own ageing process in the 1990s, show that a “cosmic” or ‘higher’ consciousness, as I include it in my model, was at least not foreign to these people.

In my model of consciousness development in old age (see diagram below), which has now been expanded and refined, I differentiate between five different forms or ‘manifestations’ of consciousness in old age, ranging from advanced (severe) dementia at one end of the spectrum to the fully realised state of spiritual awakening at the other.

My understanding of spiritual awakening is based on the scientific literature on this phenomenon, which, although not providing uniform definitions, does agree on the essential terms: ‘Spiritual awakening is a term given to describe a subjective experience in which an individual's ego transcends their ordinary, finite sense of self to encompass a wider, infinite sense of truth or reality.’ (Corneille & Luke, 2021). My own experiences in this context are described under Nothingness.

As far as dementia is concerned, I refer to the ICD10 (version 2019) for definitions, even though my own understanding of dementia now goes far beyond this: Transcending Dementia. I also draw on my extensive professional experience of working with people with advanced dementia in my practice as a case supervisor in geriatric psychiatric care: Curriculum Vitae.

Both phenomena – awakening and dementia – are phenomena that remain alien to those who have not had this experience; they are experiences that can only be understood phenomenologically, but cannot be grasped cognitively. Only the experience of the state itself makes the state tangible. And yet both dimensions of experience seem to shine through more and more in the real experience of (advanced) ageing; both are possibilities that individual consciousness can follow. At the same time, there is a wide spectrum of life experiences and states of consciousness ‘in between,’ as the graphic below shows.

The last, final crisis of ageing may be that being must surrender itself completely to its own dissolution – a thesis that I also put forward elsewhere in my work: ‘Die before you die’ (Rumi).

Of course, this challenge does not begin in old age, but ultimately runs through all phases of life, at least through adulthood. In her description of the ninth crisis of life, Joan Erikson described how the individual course and outcome of the eight previous crises can influence the mastery of this final task of life: If we have been able to experience a ‘positive’ outcome in our lives so far, it seems at first glance that we may be better prepared for this final task than if life has always tended to manoeuvre us into a ‘negative’, stressful outcome. In these last years, months and weeks, when we can no longer escape the fact that our life is coming to an end, it may seem easier at first to embark on this journey with positive baggage. But this seems to me to be a simplistic view, because callenging, even traumatic experiences and the process of overcoming them can give rise to great resilience and psychological and spiritual maturity, as numerous life stories show. Among many others, the biography and later work of the neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl point to precisely this resilience, as does the research of Aaron Antonovsky, which later resulted in his concept of salutogenesis.

As permanent embodiments – fully realised awakening and fully realised dementia – waking up and falling asleep can be understood as the completion of the poles of the previous stage: From the ever deeper embodiment of ego integrity, conscious dissolution of the self can succeed, because what is fully integrated can also be let go, thus enabling the path to complete awakening from the illusion of a personal identity.

And from the ever deeper despair about one's life so far and unfulfilled life issues, the path leads almost inevitably to an ever deeper repression of one's own being – the path to dementia begins much earlier, but finds its completion here in the late stages of dementia in the increasing and ultimately complete sinking into illusion. And those who have accompanied various people with advanced dementia over a long period of time may, from the perspective of a professional witness, perhaps understand when I speak in this context of dementia as the falling asleep of consciousness: the self-consciousness, the personal identity, has mostly fallen completely asleep in these people.

The graphic below is preliminary, created for my presentation at the Science of Consciousness Conference. A translation into German will follow later.

A detailed explanation of the model will also follow after the conference. Until then, I refer you to my article in the Journal of Transpersonal Research, which is linked below in the literature section.

In my thinking, in my awareness of these phenomena, all of this is an event ‘in consciousness’; it is all an expression of the One or the Absolute, and for that reason alone, none of the descriptions given here contain any kind of evaluation. They are descriptions, and I make these descriptions in the awareness that I am thereby co-creating or constructing new realities. However, these constructions seem to me to be

• transpersonal, i.e. not arising solely from my personal thinking, but rather I see my mind, which puts these constructions together, as a tool in the sense of a larger context,
• to be meaningful in order to show a – again transpersonal connection between consciousness development and ageing, an evolutionary potential of ageing, which is like a calling that has guided me through the last few years.

For these reasons, I am bringing these constructions into the world.

If you have any legitimate doubts about these assumptions, please let me know: info@bettinawichers.de.

This article does not claim to be exhaustive, but should be understood as a supplement to my research and other publications, including those on this website. You may find the following pages helpful:

• Conscious Ageing
• Conscious dissolution of the self as an evolutionary potential of aging
• Dementia transcendence
• Dementia and awakening
• Nothingness
• Transpersonal gerontology
• Science of Consciousness Conference 2025
• Dementia, the dissolution of the self and extraordinary experiences of consciousness
• and also my recently published article on dementia and ego dissolution (in English) in the Journal of Transpersonal Research: Wichers B., (2025). Dementia and the Dissolution of the Self - A Transpersonal Perspective Journal of Transpersonal Research, 17 (1), 31-40

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Published July 1, 2025

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