authenticity, selfhood and the crisis of modernity

[cebus_albifrons]

I know that I said I'd be posting most of my enneagram stuff elsewhere, but I decided this one warrants being cross-posted. It's an idea I've been mulling over for some time now

Comments

[tenacitysknot]

Excellent reflection.

[cebus_albifrons]

Thanks :-)

[forsakenmystic]

Good insights. Interesting to see this taken from a philosophical standpoint as opposed to the spiritual one, which is where I normally see this sort of fleshed out. I would say that the despair over finding authenticity is what sets maybe the INFx or Four apart from those who just wish to find authenticity and selfhood. I know so many people who are interested, and intrigued by the idea of finding self, but they seem to miss the despairing aspect that characterizes the 4 or INFx...I find myself literally despairing over it, fearing that I won't find a stable sense, the search can become compulsive and all consuming, but even when something is found it is not enough. I believe this is because the self cannot be grasped through ideological or even mental terms, that recognition of self must come on an essential level...probably pre-verbal, intuitive, and possibly spiritual level that precedes or proceeds linguistic convention. I have been trying to dis-identify with my thoughts and emotions but wonder if this is a relatively impossible

[cebus_albifrons]

I would say that the despair over finding authenticity is what sets maybe the INFx or Four apart from those who just wish to find authenticity and selfhood. I know so many people who are interested, and intrigued by the idea of finding self, but they seem to miss the despairing aspect that characterizes the 4 or INFx...I find myself literally despairing over it, fearing that I won't find a stable sense, the search can become compulsive and all consuming, but even when something is found it is not enough...but that's just the point that philosophers like Kierkegaard and Møller were making, that the despair over not finding a self was a crisis that came following the late-medieval period. The shift from an agrarian to an industrial way of life caused selfhood to become an issue because, quite frankly, the idea of a self was non-existent prior to that. Selfhood is a distinctly modern concept, and as a result, so is the idea that a self can be authentic or inauthentic. It's why it irritates me so much when Riso & Hudson lump all the

[forsakenmystic]

Yeah I see what you/they are saying. That brings to question whether or not certain types have developed out of a societal malaise. Certain egos perhaps weren't as prominent or perhaps didn't exist prior to certain societal conventions or ideas that sort of seeped into the ether, therefore causing a fixation to develop out of those changes in society.

You'll have to forgive my seeming ignorance or difficulty in grasping philosophical concepts...I'm not meaning to restate what you had already espoused...See, this is precisely why I dropped out of philosophy :-\...it makes me feel silly and then I just feel bad about myself, haha...

I'll probably have to reread it to fully integrate it.