BECOMING
MORE AUTHENTIC:
THE
POSITIVE SIDE OF EXISTENTIALISM
the
cyber-seminar
Authenticity means creating
our own comprehensive life-meanings.
When we re-center and re-integrate our lives
around our freely-chosen purposes,
we become more focused, unified, & decisive.
We resist enculturation and attain greater
autonomy.
This approach to re-structuring human life
was developed by several existential philosophers
and psychologists,
especially the ones discussed in this cyber-seminar:
Camus, Sartre, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, &
Maslow.
A short presentation of Authenticity appears
here:
Becoming More
Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism.
Authenticity is more a
structure
than a content.
We individually must choose our basic life-goals.
But perhaps sharing with other persons
who
are attempting
to become more Authentic
will help us to
make
the growth choices rather than the
safe
choices.
This cyber-seminar will be a
discussion of Authenticity
as it applies to our own lives.
Over a period of six weeks,
we will read and discuss the following chapters.
(Chapter
titles highlighted in blue
below
can be clicked to begin reading that chapter.)
PART I A
DEFINITION OF AUTHENTIC EXISTENCE
AND AN AUTHENTICITY
TEST
Week 1:
Chapter 1: From
Conformity to
Autonomy
Week 2:
Chapter 1: Centering
and
Integrating
PART II AUTHENTIC
PROJECTS-OF-BEING
Week 3:
Chapter 3: Creating
An
Authentic Project
Chapter 4: My
Authentic
Project-of-Being
Chapter 5: Helping Children Grow Toward Authenticity
Chapter 6: Authenticity Counseling
Chapter 7: Love Counseling
Chapter 8: Promoting Family Planning
Week 4:
Chapter 9: Liberation from Sex-Roles
Chapter 10: The Contemplative Life
Chapter 11: Companions for the Dying
Chapter 12: Working
for the Right-to-Die
Chapter 13: Other Projects
Chapter 14: Authenticity
and Occupation
PART III FIVE VERSIONS OF AUTHENTIC EXISTENCE
Week 5:
Chapter 15: Albert
Camus:
Rebelling Against
the Absurd
Chapter 16: Jean-Paul
Sartre:
Inventing Our Own
Meanings in a
Meaningless World
Week 6:
Chapter 17: Martin
Heidegger:
Confronting
Existential Guilt and
Death
Chapter 18: Søren
Kierkegaard:
Willing One
Thing
Chapter 19: Abraham
Maslow:
Becoming
Self-Actualizing
HOW TO JOIN THIS
CYBER-SEMINAR ON AUTHENTICITY:
You will need a regular Internet connection,
where you can receive and send e-mail at least once a week.
This could be either your own computer
or one you can use at a public library, for instance.
You choose the time
and place for your electronic participation.
We will not attempt to have everyone on-line at once.
You will join a Google Group called
Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism.
There is no charge for joining this on-line group,
but you must be accepted by the owner—James
Park.
This group will just be for people who are reading and discussing
Becoming More
Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism.
Spammers
will be excluded immediately and permanently banned.
This cyber-seminar
might also take place as a Facebook Group.
Would that work for your Internet connection?
A Facebook Group has the additional advantage
of being able to see the faces of the other participants.
Class
discussion will require about 30 minutes per week,
depending on how much you have to say in response to the book,
how many people join this cyber-seminar,
and what we write about our own quests for greater Authenticity.
You will need access to a copy of Becoming More
Authentic.
Most
participants will buy their own copies.
The printed book costs $15 in either of two bindings.
Becoming More Authentic
is also available in PDF for $5.
Others will borrow copies from libraries.
If your favorite library does not have a copy,
you can recommend that they get one,
either by normal purchasing
or by means of a gift from the
publisher to libraries.
Reading will take one or two hours per week.
And you might
decide to do more background reading
in other books on Authenticity:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/B-AU.html.
This cyber-seminar is for serious persons willing
and able
to devote
meaningful time each week to reading and discussion.
This six-weeks electronic seminar will be
repeated
as new people discover this opportunity, obtain the book,
and request to join the Google Group or Facebook Group on Authenticity.
Once you have a copy of Becoming More
Authentic,
send your preferred e-mail address to me
so I can give you detailed instructions
explaining how to join our Google Group called
Becoming More Authentic.
My e-mail address is: James Park, e-mail:
parkx032@umn.edu.
OUR DISCUSSION BOOK: BECOMING MORE AUTHENTIC
The printed book for this on-line course
is Becoming More
Authentic.
The complete table of contents will appear
if you click this line:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/AU.html
From this table of contents you can open
several pages of the book.
This book is available in two different
bindings:
comb binding or stapled binding.
The publisher's website explains the difference.
Search the Internet for "Existential Books".
This book is also available in PDF.
Write for details and to test your e-mail program
to see if you can receive a book in Portable Document Format.
OTHER OPTIONS FOR READING AND DISCUSSING:
Of course, it is always possible for anyone to read the book
without participating in this on-line discussion.
Readers who live in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota,
will have the opportunity to join a face-to-face discussion of Authenticity
about once a year.
Just remain on the e-mailing list for the EXCO class called
"Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism".
Here is the website for the Experimental Educational Community of the Twin Cities:
http://excotc.org.
Over 100 people have put themselves on the e-mailing list of this class.
But only 20% of those can actually attend a face-to-face gathering,
which must necessarily meet at a specific time and place.
This on-line discussion allows people living anywhere on the globe
to participate from their own keyboards and computer screens.
They might later join a face-to-face discussion of Authenticity.
Or it might happen the other way around:
People who have already taken the face-to-face course
might decide to join one of the on-line discussions.
People who meet on-line in our discussions of Authenticity
might be able to create other face-to-face seminars
at other locations on the Earth.
And the book Becoming More Authentic:
The Positive Side of Existentialism
could also be used in college courses
on personal growth or existentialism.
It might also be relevant for students deciding what course of study to pursue.
"What is the meaning of my life?"
is a relevant question at many times during a human life.
What other ideas occur to you?
This on-line course will be modified to suit those who wish to join.
Send your questions, comments, and suggestions to me:
James Park, e-mail: parkx032@umn.edu.
Created
October 30, 2009; Revised 10-31-2009; 11-12-2009; 11-21-2009; 6-13-2012