Being authentic is not something people talk about a lot. Maybe because it is a quality not much appreciated and not much sought after in our money oriented, materially emphasised, image and fame driven culture. Politicians have become spin masters, entertainers have become fame seekers, sportsmen have become idols.
How much authenticity are our role models displaying? …not much by all accounts.
Being authentic however may be the one quality that may truly set us free, bring us closer to happiness and fulfilment.
So what has “being authentic” to do with hapiness? What does “being authentic” mean?
Being authentic to me means being present, in the moment free of any embellishment, falseness, hype, pretense, deception, emotional baggage and free of any head-trash. A clear view of what is so and where we fit. No more endless disatisfaction wishing we were somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else or having something else. An appreciation of where we are at right here right now. A form of self-acceptance despite conditions. Yet not defeatism. A sense of full empowerment. A freedom from the grips of emotional debris. An ability to experience what is going on here and now, to appreciate it fully and be faced with an abundance of choices in how to respond. Freedom from the rigid default conditioned responses we habitually display. A world of endless possibilities in the moment.
Sound like a tall order? It is.
Authenticity is revealed when the layers of fabricated identity, the layers of negative conditioned response and the veils of ignorance are gradually removed. Beneath all that is our authenticity. Our spontaneous greatness. It’s there. But to reach it requires a lot of refinement. There are various means.
When we experience being authentic, there is no more “want”, no more chasing after this and that, no more avoiding one suffering or another. We embrace our current state of affairs and respond spontaneously “for the better”. Our guide becomes some type of inner wisdom rather than outer distractions, desires and avoidances. Our mind is powerfully settled, but certainly not asleep or sluggish. On the contrary it is sharp resplendishing brightness and flexible.
That is what being authentic represents to me. It is a state of mind. A level of supreme responsibility and greatness. Less fear, more life. What is so is what is so. No need for dramas. More energy for constructive solutions. An appreciation of our own life-force and a commitment to harnessing it in a good way, a constructive wholesome way that has its effects beyond our own individuality. A positive place in this ocean of consciousness amongst fellow humans…
