These questions are familiar to those who, in spite of great difficulties, still seek meaning in their lives. They go hand in hand with the basic question that meets anyone starting therapy: what ails you? The answers are all connected and require patience, compassion and curiosity.
You want to tackle these questions. You try the confidences with friends but there is only so much you’re comfortable sharing; self-help hasn’t delivered on its grandiose promises and cognitive therapy has the shelf life of an opened can of pop.
You may have even tried to medicate yourself with all sorts of substances, legal or not. Numbing and distraction aside, there’s little more than chemistry here and, for all its worth, chemistry gives you as much meaning as a dictionary gives you poetry.