Chapter 3
Creating an Authentic Project

     Before we turn our attention to several detailed projects-of-being,
we need to ask about the mental processes by which we create these projects.
First we must become clear about our present purposes for living:
What implicit values lie behind our current style of life?
Then we can start the long process of growth and evolution,
beginning by revising those dimensions of our lives most in need of change.
From the positive side, we can imagine ourselves pursuing definite purposes.
And we might decide to record our process of becoming more Authentic
by keeping a journal of our insights, struggles, & proposed experiments.

I. SOME STEPS TOWARD DEVELOPING
    AN AUTHENTIC PROJECT-OF-BEING

     As the Chinese say, "Even a journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step."
Our Authentic journey will be even longer, since it has no destination.
Authenticity means always being on the way, actively pursuing a project.
But even such a life-long journey begins with one step.
In order to re-design ourselves, we must first clarify who we are now;
we must first uncover our operational life-purposes.
These underlying assumptions may have been so enculturated
and so taken-for-granted that we cannot even name them.

    A. Taking a Time-Inventory.

     We can most easily discover the operational principles of our lives
by taking a careful inventory of how we actually use our time.
Every week consists of 168 hours.  Where, precisely, do these hours go?

     We might begin by estimating where we think our time is going.
This will help to establish the categories of our time-use:
sleeping, eating, working; transportation, leisure, relationships, etc.

     Whenever I take a time-inventory, I carry a card with me,
on which I note the time whenever I change activities.
I also calculate the hours and minutes consumed by the activity just completed.
At the end of the week, I lay these cards out
and add up the time spent sleeping, eating, writing, reading, etc.
Usually my total comes close to 168 hours.

     Confronted with the raw data, we might begin to 'explain'
why we spent excessive amounts of time watching television or shopping.
If we pay close attention to this process of explaining how we fell short,
it will reveal where we waste time even according to our current values.

     Examining our actual use of time will disclose our day-to-day purposes,
forcing us to think about the relative importance of our various activities.
A time-inventory will lay bare our implicit priorities.   

CREATING AN AUTHENTIC PROJECT by JAMES PARK                                                       29

    B. Beginning to Re-Design our Lives.

     Our time-inventory might encourage us to re-organize our week,
bringing our lives into better correlation with our current values.
We can begin at the weakest link, limiting our greatest waste of time:
watching television, shopping, working, talking on the phone—whatever.
It might take a long time to change our weekly schedules,
especially if we have accepted long-term responsibilities in work and family.
Initially, we might have to compromise with these responsibilities,
reclaiming only a part of our freedom for the present.
But even small changes can assure us we are moving in the right direction.
And once we clearly notice responsibilities we resent
—such as serving on too many committees or doing too much yard work—
we can avoid loading ourselves with similar duties in the future.

     After we have changed our most inauthentic use of time,
some 'new' weakest link in our lives will appear,
a fault not noticed in the shadow of the most serious problem.

     By gradually revising our lives, we begin to re-invent ourselves.
Making intelligent priority-choices helps define who we will become.
And this process of re-creating ourselves can continue for the rest of our lives.
After traversing many hills and dales in quest of greater Authenticity,
we will appreciate the existential maxim:  We are what we choose.

    C. Considering Several Possible Ultimate Concerns.

     We might also approach the task of creating an Authentic project
from the positive side—by imagining ourselves engaged in various tasks.
We might find it helpful to write a list of possible comprehensive purposes:
If we were completely free, what values and goals would we pursue?

     After such free dreaming, we can read over the list with a critical eye,
questioning unrealistic life-purposes and rejecting goals beyond our capacities.
Some of these projects might not warrant the effort they would require.
This winnowing process should yield a first approximation
of a comprehensive value around which to focus our lives.
We will never see the whole road ahead at one glance.
Each new valley will only show itself after we climb the preceding hill.

     When we stop idling and put ourselves into gear in a definite direction,
we will discover many dimensions of the project we could not have foreseen.
For instance, when we actively attempt to change the economic system,
fresh insights will arise when our first efforts are thwarted,
which will enable us to refine our approach,
making the project more realistic and more responsive to the real situation.
Such experimentation eliminates 'great projects' that do not work in practice.
Then we can turn our energies to projects with better prospects.

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

How to cite the above pages from Becoming More Authentic

    Students and scholars are invited to quote
anything from the above pages. 
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. xx  

{the page numbers appear at the bottom of the pages}

Return to the table of contents for
Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism.
This table of contents shows the outline for this chapter.

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

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