| | Ian,
First, welcome aboard. I mean here, at this site -- not into any "movement." That would be a bit cultist. Yours was apparently a journey of self-discovery and learning, not a search for a new "ism" to which to "belong."
And that's how you should view your past.
One thing can be said with certainty about The Past: everybody has one. We were all different then than we are now. We grow. As we learn and evolve, we are not the same people we once were.
We also encounter truths in different ways, at different times. We should not feel ashamed of the fact that we all once accepted views that we later came to regard as mistaken. To do that is to tacitly expect that we "somehow" should have known better. But that is to expect that we should been born omniscient.
Don't accept the unearned guilt of judging yourself by an impossible standard. You didn't know what you didn't know. You learned better, and when you did, you changed your mind.
If you had done some terrible harm to someone, perhaps you would properly feel the need to atone for the damage done. But unless that's the case -- if instead you were simply your own victim -- then you have done nothing to feel penitent about.
Rather than feel guilty about your past views, you should credit yourself for the honesty and courage to confront them and change them as needed. You have done something to feel proud of. You were ready and willing to follow your independent rational judgment wherever your mind took you. Not everyone is willing to do that.
Keep learning, keep growing, keep being willing to change in the face of new knowledge. And as a rule, don't waste time looking back. The only thing you can control is "now." If you must look back at the past, seek from it useful life lessons, not paralyzing feelings of guilt.
I don't mean to sound preachy, but these lessons were difficult for me to learn. If by sharing them I can spare someone some time otherwise wasted, then even my past mistakes may serve a useful purpose.
Good wishes to you.
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