PART II
    Authentic Projects-of-Being

     We become by choosing.
If we do not exercise our power to choose our future,
our cultural environment will do the 'choosing' for us.
And our lives will look very like the lives of our parents and peers.

     Beyond selecting a toothpaste or a car, the choices that define us
are the choices of our fundamental, comprehensive life-values and purposes.
Will we pursue meaning in family relationships?
Will we turn our attention inward—toward making ourselves better—
or will we strive to improve the world for the benefit of others?
Perhaps we will structure our lives around several projects
or shift our emphasis from year to year.

     While we live and grow, we can always change our Authentic projects.
Choosing something now does not determine the rest of our lives.
Rather, we choose our projects-of-being for the now.
Authenticity does not create a stable resting place
but a flexible and ever-self-creating mode of living.
Slowly and carefully we mold our new selves
by making small daily choices that move us in our chosen direction
—a direction which itself will have to be modified and corrected
as we encounter new circumstances.

     First exposure to the concept of Authentic Existence might suggest
that we can simply choose an arbitrary project and then pursue it.
But the process of evolving an Authentic project-of-being
is itself a long-term project, perhaps embracing several years.
When we think of re-designing ourselves as an on-going activity,
we might be willing to devote more time to creating our basic values.

     If we hope to find a ready-made list of projects from which to choose,
we are thinking of Authenticity as an occupation or avocation;
we are hoping (at least in part) to copy someone else's life-style.
But Authenticity requires creating our own projects-of-being.
We might develop life-purposes never before attempted.

     Thus, we should not despair and abandon the task
simply because a little thought about possible projects leads us nowhere.
We will make more progress along the road of continual self-creation
if we choose as our first project developing a meaningful life-purpose.
Then we will create a clearing in our lives
so we can devote significant time to the sensitive and delicate process
of dreaming, thinking, and experimenting with projects
that might be worthy of the effort of our whole being.                   

28  BECOMING MORE AUTHENTIC: THE POSITIVE SIDE OF EXISTENTIALISM by JAMES PARK

How to cite the above page from Becoming More Authentic

    Students and scholars are invited to quote
anything from the above page. 
Here is the proper form for the footnote or other reference: 

James Park  Becoming More Authentic:
The Positive Side of Existentialism
(Minneapolis, MN: Existential Books, 2007—5th edition)
p. 28  

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Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism.

Created September 10, 2008; Revised 3-3-2017;

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