Reading an article from the conversation I was
struck by the last line: Deep thinkers will question whether the idea of an authentic true self
passes philosophical muster. But even if it is an illusion, it may be a useful
one.
That reminded me of the
determinism versus free will debate. At the end of the day it makes sense to
live your life as you have free will as otherwise you can’t make sense of it.
But mostly I believe in determinism, but even so that rarely comes into play in
my thinking or living except for the rather obvious mortality issue.
So let us say that the
authentic self is illusory but even so explore the possibility it is a kind of
work in progress as a human construct.
So it’s going to vary
throughout your lifelong experience and also according to what’s in one’s mind
at the time. So no absolutes are possible as it properly must be regarded
as transient according to the circumstances.
But from a personal viewpoint
I find the idea of having a set of values that I might loosely associate with I
think is my authentic self ( regardless of whether that is illusory ) is very
useful and none more so than one is under a lot of pressure. Without wanting to
give the impression from an egotistical point of view I am a paradigm of
virtue, that principle has served me well when getting rid of fraud in
corporate situations when it came down to showing a bit of courage and
suffering at a personal level as a consequence. Not such a big deal some might
say but in a large group none the less you may finish up being the lone one willing
to stand up so to speak. It happened on a number of occasions and each time it
involved introspection. As best as I can think of it that means you arrive at a
conclusion about yourself and what staying true to yourself really means. In
other words staying true to your authentic self at the time. I think the idea
of relating to one’s authentic self is very helpful. Not just for me but
others, in similar positions in life, have all said the same thing.
A help to self-
examination throughout life, but I hasten to add It cannot be pretentious
as in publically pretending to be authentic.
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