Choosing Authenticity

How prepackaged everything has masked our identity. Who are you really without them? Who do you really want to be?

Stephen has done an excellent series on authenticity.

“shifting our orientation from treating others as objects that exist to serve our interests, to an openness to the other as an expression of mystery.  This shift invites us to relate to others by resisting our temptation to reduce the other via labels, definitions and concepts and instead invites us to be open to who the other is as a multi-dimensional being who emerges over time”—Stephen

“Authenticity is a set of skills really“ It is difficult in this day and age to discover our true selves. Everything that now influences us is carefully packaged by specialists and experts. Finding your true self requires one to analyze, step back and embrace real, authentic, internal change through awareness that our very core has been challenged by agendas.

Me and my brother—1967

Author: jimoeba

Alternatives to big box religions and dogmas

29 thoughts on “Choosing Authenticity”

  1. Nice words, but not as hard to do as you seem to think, if you are willing to take the bullshit and throw it away, then start over.
    Mind you, few people are willing to start over, to unmake themselves and then remake themselves. They don’t have the time, or the energy, or the will. I AM WHO I AM. But really they are not. Generally speaking, we are who we were made to be by those outside of ourselves. All it takes is the desire to discover who we are from the inside out, rather than from the outside in…

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      1. I mean un-make. To unmask is to show yourself, but how can you unmask what you do not know about yourself. If you want to find yourself, you have to know where to look, and if you can only see the many faces you show to the various folks around you, you will never know which one is you. Better to start over from scratch.

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      2. I’m sorry Jim but rawgod has it right: it is definitely “unmake” and “remake” if one is looking for real and permanent change. The mask is for those who do not want to make the effort to change; who are satisfied to let others lead and make the changes, for better or worse, for them. When you decided God wasn’t doing it for you did you just change masks, or did you unmake a part of yourself to remake it in a more appropriate guise for who you wanted to be? Changing masks is going from Free Grace Baptist to Pentecostal Tabernacle. Nothing essential changes.

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            1. Stripped down and no guile. Everything you ever believed is crap, and open yourself to a serious learning curve of true examination. If fact, it’s been about five years and I’m probably due for another round.

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    1. Maybe. But most of what we do now is we don’t like the alternative. We mask up and go to work, like a waiter at a restaurant doing our best to please in order to get something. I know this is idealistic and likely will never change. The system demands allegiance and growth, and who am I to stop unhappy people from doing what they despise?

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  4. Hello Jim. While I do not quite get all the twisted word usage, I think I got the idea. I wonder why it can not simply be written as: Be the best person you can be in the life you live while helping others to live their lives as best they can? A long time ago I made a promise to myself I still try to keep, every day I will try to be a better Scottie today than I was yesterday. I often fail that promise, but I keep trying. Hugs

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  7. nice paradox in finding your true Self, one realizes he was never a separate individual. that is when true authenticity begins. we must be wiling to ‘disappear’ completely. scary, ‘aint it, letting go of any trace of ‘me’? … now, where was i? great post!😁

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  8. Wow Jim! You grabbed my attention with your post. Spot on! Authenticity …. the most powerful force…. quite emancipating ….. quite empowering …. and yet it seems, not everyone is ready for it ….. it requires for people to do the necessary Homework …. the soul searching and all…. and yet the rewards are worth living …. and dying for.

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    1. People do seem to need a religion or belief system outside of themselves, right up until they don’t. Real responsibility and self empowerment comes after the limitations of thought created by the systems. Transcending belief mode will not be given, but earned through awareness and confidence that we got this. Thanks for the great comment.

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  9. Uh, except that I think “finding your true self” is a kind of deepity, an intellectual snipe hunt as it were. I don’t really think there is such a thing because we are in a constant state of invention, inventing our “self.” When I meditate, I reduce the amount of interior chatter that probably serves a purpose but can get overwhelming at times. So, I come out of such a session calm and at peace. Is that my “true self?” I used to have a temper, one I didn’t particularly care for (I think I copied it from a parent). I learned to open up a little space of time between any stimulus and my response and I rarely lose my temper any more. Was my ill-tempered self my “true self” or is my good tempered self my “true self?” How would I know? How could any one tell.

    Often such constructions serve to help us talk about things but this concept is, I believe, misleading and probably be done away with.

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    1. I would say the true self is to realize you hold all the cards and absolutely can change. After releasing the deprecating models of religious belief we are dismayed at the trick; that the real power is within each of us. The believer would thank god for your change, which is a codependent relationship I can live much better without. Thanks Steve

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  10. Trying to pin down the idea of a ‘true self” is pretty tricky but I very much appreciate what he says about us being multi-dimensional beings. Capitalist culture has a tendency to reduce us to labels and some are sadly willing to use those labels as if they were the sum total of a lived life. I’ve known people who introduce themselves by their diagnosis. I know one fellow who takes every opportunity to slip in the phrase ” as a man of faith …” When I hear these labels I always am inclined to say, “And what else?” Just as important is his emphasis on us to resist the labeling of others. Far better to allow time and a relationship to show us who they … and we … are. Thanks for the link. I am inspired to read more.

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    1. “As a man of faith”, like believing is a virtue. It’s merely comfort in one’s imaginations. Is that the true self, or the prepackaged dogma talking?

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