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Hope you are well and safe. Be safe in body, mind and soul.If you are suicidal go to your nearest emergency center. Tell a friend. Find people who accept you. Don’t bother with others…
ANSWER:
you can talk and communicate with me and other members of ReGAIN via email, phone, Facebook…and or with counselors you would be comfortable with; priests, cult counselors, mental health therapists, former members, etc..
We would try to contact you depending on where you are and what you want/need.
We would get you emotional support and maybe some material if you were in dire need
Hello, I was consecrated for 10 years. I’ve been home for 10 years. I thought my healing was complete but realize there is one major road block preventing me from living life fully. I am programmed to live for the eternal. Now I don’t even know if the eternal exists. It’s hard to find a substitute. I struggle with finding purpose and motivation..even with enjoying the little things in life. It all seems so empty to me. Is there someone that can offer some sort of deprogramming/reprogramming?
Dear Danielle,
Although it saddens me to see that no one else has responded to this comment yet, I am very pleased and grateful that you posted it since this is an issue that I have deeply struggled with after my experience with the Legion of Christ. Consequently, it is really great to know that I’m not alone in questioning the point of my existence and lacking fulfillment in life after such a hallowing engrossment with the (charism deficient) Regnum Christi movement.
As you will see in my brief autobiography under the “Recovery and Healing” section of this site, I almost lost my life to this issue from a self-attempt. I have seen many mental health professionals as well as spiritual leaders and anyone that I thought could help me find more meaning and purpose in my life. So that being said, there are over a thousand things that I could tell you about my experience with what has been explained to me as “Existential Depression/Crisis.”
Therefore, I’m not going to go into great detail here about everything that I have found on the matter, such as Victor Frankyl’s: “Man’s Search for Meaning” corroborations, etc. However, I hope to open this dialog up to other former members that can find the courage to admit that they too feel, at least somewhat, lost after getting out and trying to find a new “vocation.” If nothing else, you have my email address and I would be only more than happy to discuss this with you at any length and detail, since it is now my main passion in life—that is helping people find meaning in life.
I plan to write an actual book on this subject, but for now I’ll leave you with the famous Walt Whitman’s “O Me! O Life!” poem:
‘Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.’
So, since we do exist and have our own unique note or ‘verse’ to add, my fulfillment is found in determining for myself what mine is going to be. Therefore, whether the eternal exist or not—we can be assured of our own existence—which is meaning enough in itself! That’s basically my take on how to deal with the issue in a brief context.
I hope that this topic with expound upon the notion with more comments that provide increasingly unique takes on it, but at least this let’s you know that there is at least one other person that is familiar with the matter. Hope this helped some!
~ Dave