Authenticity is something that we seem to value a great deal, but without much understanding of what it is. “Authentic Southern Barbeque,” “Authentic Amish-Style Handicrafts,” and “Authentically Italian” are just some of the puzzling uses of this apparently diverse term. But what does it mean, and why do we care so much about it? And how exactly can we go about living an authentic life?
Authenticity is an indicator of genuineness, honesty, and sincerity. This is difficult to understand in the case of things like barbeque sauce, however. “Authentic Southern Barbeque” refers to some kind of ideal of barbeque in the South, which any barbeque joint wearing this label must be reasonably close to achieving if it is to truly meet the standard of authenticity.
Human authenticity, unlike barbeque sauce, has been widely studied by existentialist philosophers, especially Martin Heidegger. Heidegger believed that to live authentically is, roughly, to live the life you want to live, unencumbered by the wants and wishes of others, or society itself. The authentic person is a real, live human being who is self-made in his or her own best image. Not in the sense of a Horatio Alger myth, but rather in that they are making their own choices, consciously, of who they want to be.
Perhaps the analogy between authentic human living and authentic Southern barbeque is not that far apart. In both cases, we want something that is genuine, sincere, and honest, not fabricated to seem like something that it is not. Whether it is barbeque sauce or humans, the desirability of this ideal makes a lot of sense.
It is in achieving this particular goal that our barbeque analogy breaks down. While authentic Southern barbeque simply means buying the right ingredients and having the right recipes and techniques, being an authentic human being is somewhat different. This requires that we are first aware of the way in which social, biological, and psychological conditions are shaping our being, and that we make a conscious effort to figure out what direction we want our lives to take, regardless of what any of these conditions might have to say about it. This is massively difficult, but incredibly important to human fulfillment.
This is important for our purposes because it seems that living an authentic life requires that we live mindfully. Self-awareness is an essential part of achieving this ideal of authenticity, and we cannot do one without the other. More to the point, living authentically is an essential part of living a happy and fulfilling life. We cannot find true happiness if we are at the mercy of our conditioning, because human beings crave meaningful choices. This is the core of why it is desirable to know how to live an authentic life. Until we begin to do this, none of our choices is truly meaningful in the way that we want them to be.
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