I measure my self-worth by how well I treat people, including myself. That's the part that I had to learn from anywhere but the dubs. I create a lot of poetry, drama, and fiction, and therefore I can find fulfillment in that. I read, and learn, and there is a measure of self-worth in how much knowledge I am able to learn and pass on to others. I love to study history, partly because it helps me keep my miniscule problems in perspective, and partly because it helps me see how far mankind has come, especially in the past five hundred years or so.
If I can help in some small way to make the world a better, safer, more decent place for people to live in, then I feel like I've done something valuable and that I mean something. I try to help other dubs that have escaped for whatever reason - walking them through the various stages and helping THEM develop stable personalities.
Every so often, I get down on myself, and I realize just how insidious the influence of the cult was, how utterly soul-destroying. EVERYTHING was placed into a skewed perspective. Do I brush my teeth today? Not because I like my teeth, but because I might stumble a brother if I didn't. Do I pursue college? Not if I'm setting spiritual goals like volunteer work at Bethel. My self-worth was placed at an unattainable level, a carrot forever dangling inches from my nose no matter how fast I ran. I couldn't please anybody, and constantly the call was "Do more! Give more! Be better! More effective!"
Now I gradually build a life, a real, meaningful life of today and tomorrow.\
You know, if a company had treated me like the cult did, I would have quit myu job. But I kept seeking to be accepted by those nutters.
Screw em. LIve for today! Tomorrow is a nightmare!
CZAR