#135: Inventing an Authentic Life With Eric Wilson

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 September 2015

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“Discovering your authentic self” has become an article of faith in the United States. There are thousands of blogs, books, and seminars that supposedly teach people how to discover who they really are. But what if our obsession to uncover an authentic self is getting in the way of living a truly flourishing life? What if instead of trying to discover an authentic life, we should be focused on inventing an authentic life? Well, that’s the argument Eric Wilson makes in his book Keep it Fake: Inventing an Authentic Life. Today on the podcast, Eric and I discuss questions of the self that have boggled philosophers for ages and how thinking ourselves as authors of our life story can help us lead a truly flourishing and nurturing life.

Transcript

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0:00.0	music
0:15.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:18.3	So it seems in the past like 50 years there's been the obsession in America and probably
0:22.4	in other Western countries with authenticity, right?
0:26.0	Our goal in life should be to uncover or discover our authentic selves.
0:30.4	And once we do that, you know, the universe will unfold before us, relationships will be
0:34.6	awesome, will work with passion, will make money, and our family will be awesome, and it's
0:40.3	just everything will be great.
0:41.3	In fact, you can buy books that will help you uncover your authentic self, you can hire
0:44.8	a life coach that will help you discover your authentic self, you can take courses
0:48.7	on living authentic manhood.
0:51.0	I've seen that around.
0:52.8	And in marketers, businesses have gotten hold of this obsession with authenticity that
0:58.1	we have, and now you can buy authentic artisanal pizza from Domino's or you can buy a candle
1:03.6	made by an authentic craftsman in a New England hamlet.
1:07.1	And because we're drawn to that, we'll buy it because it says authentic.
1:11.2	But what if this drive, this obsession with authenticity is actually hamstringing us
1:17.7	from living a truly flourishing life?
1:22.4	Well, that's the argument my guest today made in his latest book.
1:25.5	His name is Eric Wilson, he's a professor at Wake Forest University.
1:29.0	He's one of the leading experts on the connection between psychology and literature.
1:32.9	He's a scholar of romanticism.
	...

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