Radical Authenticity
Radical Authenticity
radical: from L.L. radicalis "of or having roots," from L. radix (gen. radicis) "root" . Meaning "going to the origin, essential"
authentic: from M.L. authenticus, from Gk. authentikos "original, genuine, principal," from authentes "one acting on one’s own authority," from autos "self" + hentes "doer, being.
Radical Authenticity happens easily from the beginnings of one’s life if parents let you feel and know that you are unique and special and that what makes you unique and special is your inner jewel and worth pursuing in order to have a fulfilling life. If on the other hand you were depraved of this kind of support you will be in an ongoing ‘search’ and conflict. While the first authentic way leads easily to fulfillment, the second creates lots of pain, anger, cynicism and increasing despair. Always between defensiveness and aggressivity you try to explain something to your ‘parents’ that you cannot put into words. ‘Parents’ may include your actual parents but also any projected substitute of them like spouses, friends, colleagues and – sometimes – whoever is available.
This ‘phase’ might be over when adolescence fades but has the matter been cleared?
In most cases it has not which then means you ‘grow up’ and integrate into a society of people who lost their soul connection long ago. Sheer suppression of the Inner Voice has become the rule, and you do the same for the simple reason to not feel isolated. You are then integrated into a dying mediocrity, permanently waisting your energy to keep up appearances, suffering from an increasing inner void. Our society is sadly made of consequences and strategies that have developed of deviations from the source which expresses itself by pouring your wonderful heart into the community.
Most people who come to walk the second way (of avoidance to be touched in the heart) pour all their creativity into the above mentioned strategies which are survival strategies of the soul. There are countless numbers of appearances from victim to victor, from nasty to shy, from disappointed to surprised, from malicious to chumming up, from controlling to submissive, the list is endless.
Radical Authenticity lives from the heart. The heart never is sentimental, it is integer and the place to feel home. The search is over. But this has to be experienced, not just one time but daily. Then it becomes the inner voice containing the trust that violence and pretence never have. Radical Authenticity is the place where the ‘me’ and the ‘we’ become united (as they have always been).
How can one find the heart? And once found, stay in touch with it?
It can be quite painful to investigate one’s pet strategies of avoidance, of submission to mediocrity and the daily fear they express. That is the hardest part. Once you acknowledge them for what they are and recognize their negative power and energy consuming nature, you may quickly be able to let them go.
Yet care is required: usually you engaged for a long time into those strategies. They don’t give up easily. You can’t trick them. You really have to change on an ongoing basis. And then you see your heart. And you can feel it. It is very strong and you can’t imagine how you ever could have overlooked it, overheard it. Whatever the fearful crowd will try to engage you into participating in their desperate distractions: be strong. Go with your heart. Never lose it again. It’s easy: love is already inside you, and so are peace, joy, trust, confidence, compassion, creativity, community. There is your richness and abundance. There is your friendship. But please don’t skip the practice part: purifying the heart is a continuum not an event. The heart is the gentle authority you had been searching for.
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