Beyond selecting a
toothpaste
or a car, the choices that define us
are the choices of our fundamental,
comprehensive
life-values and purposes.
Will we pursue meaning in family
relationships?
Will we turn our attention inward—toward
making ourselves better—
or will we strive to improve the world for
the benefit of others?
Perhaps we will structure our lives around
several projects
or shift our emphasis from year to year.
While we live and grow,
we can always change our Authentic projects.
Choosing something now does not determine
the rest of our lives.
Rather, we choose our projects-of-being for
the now.
Authenticity does not create a stable
resting place
but a flexible and ever-self-creating
mode of living.
Slowly and carefully we mold our new selves
by making small daily choices that move us
in our chosen direction
—a direction which itself will have to be
modified and corrected
as we encounter new circumstances.
First exposure to the
concept
of Authentic Existence might suggest
that we can simply choose an arbitrary
project
and then pursue it.
But the process of evolving an Authentic
project-of-being
is itself a long-term project, perhaps
embracing several years.
When we think of re-designing ourselves as
an on-going activity,
we might be willing to devote more time to
creating our basic values.
If we hope to find a
ready-made
list of projects from which to choose,
we are thinking of Authenticity as an
occupation
or avocation;
we are hoping (at least in part) to copy
someone else's life-style.
But Authenticity requires creating our own
projects-of-being.
We might develop life-purposes never before
attempted.
Thus, we should not
despair
and abandon the task
simply because a little thought about
possible
projects leads us nowhere.
We will make more progress along the road
of continual self-creation
if we choose as our first project
developing
a meaningful life-purpose.
Then we will create a clearing in
our lives
so we can devote significant time to the
sensitive and delicate process
of dreaming, thinking, and experimenting
with projects
that might be worthy of the effort of our
whole being.
28 BECOMING MORE AUTHENTIC: THE POSITIVE SIDE OF EXISTENTIALISM by JAMES PARK
If you would like to know more about
creating
an Authentic project
or if you would like to read the rest of
this book,
go to the publisher's website: existentialbooks.com
or write to the author for more information:
James Park: e-mail: PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU
Return to the Table of Contents.
Return to the beginning of the EXISTENTIALISM page.
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An
Existential Philosopher's Museum.