Authentic or Fool’s Gold
Continuing to consider what I just finished reading in The Ethics of Authenticity by Charles Taylor.
My identity, this awareness of agency that I entertain, – can be described as self-creation, an arduous project of construction. The American Psychological Association writes: self-formation as authenticity is the active, intentional process of shaping your identity based on your own values, rather than conforming go societal expectations. The concept comes from the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. There is no essential self. Authenticity is the effect of choices which I make, commitments that I sustain over time. I weave the idiosyncratic values of how I will live…
Even if there is a glamor to this idea, – is this true you might ask yourself. I do not know. Shall we return to Charles Taylor…
Taylor identifies extreme, debased forms of the “authenticity ethic”. Unrestrained egoism, narcissism, a self relation so self-absorbed that one’s fellows are but a resource for one’s use (disposal) along with any dimension of nature, or inanimate objects. One does not need any reminder of the destruction such human wrecking balls leave in their wake. Perhaps you’ve had a relationship with such an anti-social individual? Likely he or she will be remembered for a long time.
Nevertheless Taylor desires to conserve a bedrock of the unassailable value of the individual, which he recognizes as the heartbeat of our widespread culture of authenticity. If the singular person is not recognized as having supreme value then, what shall we attribute as the prime value in our spectrum of value? Will my value of highest rank be financial, the magnitude of assets that I own? If that seems vulgar, perhaps an imperious leader, or a political party, or my country of birth, or even my pastor as “God’s man”?
What or where is “true north” to be recognized by a majority of humanity – as collectively and globally we find our way further into the 21st century? Where do I begin, where am I, what direction am I traveling, along with you?
More of my thoughts on Taylor tomorrow.
We need a song, always… Shall we allow Limelight by Rush to illuminate our way? We are all in the limelight my friend! Let us not forget we are real, we are only mortal, and not gods…
