Being “Authentic”
Should we be authentic, or should we craft a “beautiful, rare and inspiring work of art.”
I recently read an article on the Art of Manliness website entitled “Don’t be Authentic; Be Artificial.” In it the author suggests that rather than following the common advice to “be yourself,” one should be really and truly artificial. That is, one should craft one’s life as a work of art, transforming the block of “authentic clay” of the self into a beautiful, rare and inspiring work of art.
I found this an interesting concept. More than once I’ve been in a group where we were advised to allow each other to be our “truest” and “most authentic” selves. Many of those times I’ve resisted that advice as my inner child urged me to throw a tantrum at just that moment. I don’t think most people want to face all the inappropriate, childish outbursts coursing through my mind as I move through my life.
I was a college student during the Age of Aquarius. As young adults, we wanted to throw off the chains of our parents’ repressive rules and “let it all hang out.” Was I being my truest self when I dressed and thought like my 20-year-old contemporaries? Was I less my true self later when I put on a suit and heels to sell the services of my business to fortune 5000 companies? What about all the other roles I played? Wife, daughter, student, teacher, scholar, religious seeker and later leader?
Much of the modern self-improvement culture seems to be fighting two opposing tendencies. On the one hand, we are encouraged to be our most authentic self, but on the other hand we’re told exactly what characteristics that self must have. You can go online right now and download “10 Habits that Train you to Become Your Authentic Self” or “Five Simple Questions to Find Your Authentic Self.” My true self should be strong, tender, stable, resilient, playful, trusting, trustworthy, kind. The list goes on and on. (See image below for some additional ideas.)
I’ve spent a lifetime taming my “authentic” self into the personas I want to show to the rest of the world. Telling every idiot I meet exactly what I think of them and their ideas doesn’t match the image I what you to have of me. Instead, I hope that you find the persona (literally “mask,” or “character played by an actor”) I show you, crafted over a lifetime, to be a genuine work of art. And if I show you several masks, will you think less of me for being “inauthentic”?
What do you think? Do you attempt to be authentic or have you crafted your own piece of art?
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