Becoming more Authentic
means organizing our lives
around whatever we choose as our central
meanings and purposes.
Even if we cannot overcome ultimate absurdity
and meaninglessness,
we can always choose to live what we regard
as worthy human lives.
The chart below outlines
a definition of Authentic Existence.
We all begin adulthood as products of our
cultures (left column),
but we can grow toward greater Authenticity
(right column).
(Part I of Becoming More Authentic
is built around this definition:
Ch. 1 explains # 1-8 of the chart; Ch. 2
explains # 9-23.)
We always live somewhere between
original existence and Authenticity.
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1. Accept (even defend) our given culture or sub-culture. |
1. Transcend enculturation. | ||
2. Governed by cultural patterns; victims of circumstance. |
2. Invent our own patterns; rise above circumstances. |
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3. Culturally-defined types. | 3. Unique, self-defining, self-creating. | ||
4. 'Pursue' culturally-provided meanings and goals. |
4. Create our own meanings and goals. |
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5. Role- and game-playing; elaborate social games and rituals. |
5. No roles or games from the culture. | ||
6. Directed by others. | 6. Directed by ourselves. | ||
7. Believe what others believe. | 7. Believe what we know from experience. |
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8. Lost in the immediate present; pulled from one moment to the next. |
8. Gather the past, present, and future into the wholeness of our resolute selves. |
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9. Deny our Existential Predicament. | 9. Embrace our Existential Predicament. | ||
10. Fragmented. | 10. Unified. | ||
11. Unfocused. | 11. Focused. | ||
12. Unowned (or owned by the 'they'). | 12. Owned by ourselves. | ||
13. Diffuse, hazy. | 13. Solid, organized. | ||
14. Unintegrated. | 14. Integrated. | ||
15. Uncentered. | 15. Centered. | ||
16. Lost in superficial details. | 16. Governed by larger, deeper patterns. |
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17. Double-minded. | 17. Single-minded; willing one thing. |
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18. Complex, tangled. | 18. Simple, direct. | ||
19. Indecisive. | 19. Decisive. | ||
20. Self-indulgent. | 20. Self-creating. | ||
21. Seeking equilibrium, homeostasis. | 21. Seeking meaning, purpose. | ||
22. Bad faith—trying to be a thing, role, temperament, or type. |
22. Always free and responsible for inventing ourselves. |
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23. Many competing concerns; no structure or organization. |
23. Having an ultimate concern. |
4 BECOMING MORE AUTHENTIC: THE POSITIVE SIDE OF EXISTENTIALISM by JAMES PARK
Return to the Table
of Contents
of Becoming More
Authentic.
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James
Leonard Park—Free
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