Authenticity: Do We Need To Be 100% Authentic?
Authenticity has become a buzzword of late with many psychology espousing the importance of 'being authentic to yourself' but what does it even mean to 'be authentic'?
Probably the most common definition is to live life according to your own values and goals instead of society's. Which sounds good until you consider that we live in a society and that our values and goals may clash with those of others.
Human Nature
For example, toddlers around 3 years old will scream when they don't get their way. That is them being 'authentic'. Then the adults teach them that it is not nice to scream at others and would they like it if someone were to scream at them?
So, are adults squashing the authenticity of toddlers by doing so? An absurd, extreme example.
Nudists everywhere
But what about nudists who just just want to be naked? Again, whether they're harming anyone is debatable yet most of society doesn't condone this sort of thing.
Are they being inauthentic by wearing clothes?
Social Chameleon
Living in a society requires trade-offs. We may never be able to be truly 'authentic' to ourselves as our values and goals clash with that of others.
However, as long as we are able to live with the trade-offs, then that would be a successful life in my opinion.
It is good to be true to one self, but we are complicated be what we see each and everyday. In the name of growing up, getting matured, and following trends, some people don't even know how they are or how to be a themselves anymore.
That toddler for example : as time goes on, she starts so see screaming as a childish thing to do, does that mean she is loosing her authenticity?
That's a very good point, @corporateay ... I just read some article on a study that says our brains only mature by the time we're 26. So we're definitely very malleable up to that point.
... that explains a lot.
"I am in fact not even really here Officer, for if I was wearing articles of clothing I would be covering my existence and disappearing from this mortal plane."
"GET DOWN OFF THE PICNIC TABLE NOW!"
Frequenters of the public park look on in shock and disgust.
Yeah i've had conversations with some folks who are very passionate about nudism from Germany and being forced to cover up is a real struggle for them. Their home photos were interesting to say the least lol.
That's a good question. Makes you think.
I think authenticity is one of many values and there will always have to be compromise amongst them. The believe, that killing people is wrong, is stronger than my need to shove somebody into traffic, if they walk too slowly infront of me, without making any room to overtake them. I'm not inauthentic denying myself that wish, because my wish to be a good person is stronger.
p.s.
I don't actually want to shove people into traffic. That's just the first example, that popped into my head.
Yeah, well said and i wonder how big a conflict in values is needed before we feel that we're being inauthentic.
Good post.
Feel free to insert the source of your photos next time.
I really want to know who's body I;m'm seein)ingg ;
Hahaha I'll do that next time for sure. All images are stock photos off pexels.com so i'm not sure whose bum that is :)
Great, then just click on the link [source](your link to pexels.com goes here)
Considering social conventions, being 100% authentic is a true act of rebellion.
So true... the price of living in a society is that we're unable to be 100% authentic. In most cases, it is an acceptable trade-off i think.
You know how you see somebody odd or quirky and just wonder, "What's up with that person?" There was a man in my area who lived alone, I think, on some property and just started building a "castle." By castle, I mean a structure built out of junk. He took old posts and beams and tin roofing material and anything he could get his hands on, and slowly constructed a Cinderella-like castle.
The man was "doing his thing." I'm sure the neighbors and anyone who knew what he was scrounging and doing thought he was crazy, but kudos to him...that was authentic. Like Thoreau said, he was marching to the beat of a different drummer that you and I cannot hear, but he did. He's no longer alive, but his castle is kind of a local oddity-attraction now.
Yeah, no harm no foul. Glad he wasn't constrained by society's norms.