An American’s Resurrection: My Pilgrimage from Child Abuse and Mental Illness to Salvation by Eric C Arauz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
On November 9, 2014, I had the pleasure of hearing Eric Arauz’s presentation on Conscious Storytelling at the International Bipolar Foundation’s Annual West Coast Meeting. He gave us each a copy of his autobiography, An American’s Resurrection: My Pilgrimage from Child Abuse and Mental Illness to Salvation, which I greatly enjoyed reading. The first thing I did once I grabbed a copy of his book was to check out his End Notes and his Arauzian Original Concepts. I was impressed and immediately knew I was going to like a guy who referenced Dante, Hesse, St. Augustine, Camus and Emerson among other great minds. This guy is an intellectual powerhouse. As I reading his book, I was most impressed by the quality of his writing. For those of you who love well-crafted story-telling with an intellectual punch, read his book. For those of you who live with bipolar disorder or who are survivors of traumatic psychiatric hospitalizations, this is a must read. Arauz is a man on a mission. His mission is to spread the message to sufferers everywhere that resurrection is possible. Thank you, Eric Arauz, for answering the door when your resurrection knocked.
Arauzian Original Concepts developed in this book:
Applied Existentialism: Is an active philosophy of life. The goal of Applied Existentialism is to build your own meaning of existence and then take the daily actions to fulfill your self-created destiny. This applied philosophy is built by searching for lessons of living left for us across time in disciplines such as literature, art, music, science, psychology, religion, astrophysics etc. and actively applying those lessons in your daily life.
Dante/Virgil Support Model: A model created out of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. In this work, Dante journeys through Hell and is able to observe the damnation and find his way out because the great poet Virgil is there with him. Virgil lives in the underworld and, therefore, does not fear the journey. In this model, two people journey together through the pain, shame and suffering of recovery. They support each other and stay connected throughout the journey. It is not a therapist/client model like the therapeutic process or the sponsor/sponsee model from the twelve-step programs. The participants are equals and the roles interchangeable.
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