The enemy of authenticity

Before the Enlightenment, human life was transcendent. The self was porous and vulnerable to spiritual forces, both good and evil.

Don’t go into the forest, the elders would tell us, for evil spirits lurk there.

Then we got too bright to believe that stuff. After the Enlightenment, our deepest concern slowly shifted from the transcendent to individual experience. Now, the enemy isn’t a spiritual force that threatens me from outside of myself. The enemy is now what threatens my individual authenticity. It opposes my sense of self. It doesn’t align with my desire to shape my identity and make personal meaning.

Today, we don’t concern ourselves with what is ‘holy, good, and righteous.’ Like, what does this even mean? What is of utmost importance is that which is authentic. Bad but authentic is better than good but basic.

We can respect an evil corporation (or a sitting president) for being authentic and ‘real.’ At least they are who they say they are. A large global coffee conglomerate doesn’t take care of its employees? At least they socially posture in an authentic way and have all the right messaging on social media.

In our modern world, worse than being evil is being inauthentic.