Authenticity and the Self

I define “authenticity” different than Heidegger and Sartre, who define the authentic self as the anxiety we feel when we acknowledge death, or define authenticity as the self-choices we make in a life of meaningless freedom.

I think we have to define the “self ” as fully as we can before we can define real authenticity. But even once we manage to define human nature this alone does not define the most “authentic” behavior.

Human nature is among other things, kin-centered, gender defined, age-graded, heterosexual marriage-making, hierarchical, ethnocentric, even xenophobic, and religious-making, with group-selection as the primary unit of selection. These traits were developed over hundreds of thousand of years of evolution primarily to enhance success in survival and reproduction. But survival and reproduction are secondary to the sacred goal of survival and reproduction, and that goal is for life to evolve to Godhood.

The “lower-self” is the self of human nature, including ones personality. But life is activated from within by the material Spirit-Will-To-Godhood, which is the “middle-self.” Even the activating Spirit-Will is not defined as the complete self because it too seeks Godhood by activating life to evolve to Godhood, which is the “upper-self,” and the true self.

Human nature and the activating Spirit-Will within human nature are this way seen as the incomplete self with incomplete authenticity, and Godhood is seen as the complete self with complete authenticity. This is defined in theological materialism.

It is also important to define authenticity (although incomplete) as being what we are at any given time and at any given development, whether or not it is the lower, middle or upper self. As we grow and learn and evolve, this becomes part of what our authentic self is, which we should show at any given time with authenticity, even if it often takes courage. This gives proper respect to life as it is in time, without overbearing pride, arrogance, or hubris. Over much time and with much evolution we may actually become fully authentic and the true Self by attaining Godhood.