June 26, 2015

The Quiet Virtue of Authenticity


"Courage is the parent virtue of authenticity.

It takes courage to tell the truth,
to be genuine,
to resist the falsifications that our peer groups endorse.

To be sincere when others are being ruthlessly sarcastic isn't easy.
And 'care for others' must inform our actions.

We should not use our commitment to sincerity as an excuse 
for blasting everyone who gets in our way.

Authenticity is not 'cruel honesty', 
as if we are justified saying whatever is on our minds.

Being genuine does not mean that we spew up every observation we make.

True authenticity practices a gracious honesty-
and it takes wisdom to know when is the best time to say the fullness of what we think and feel.

What really matters is how we live out authentic actions in the presence of others."

~Gregory Spencer~



"It is like having a morality in which stealing fruit is considered wrong-
unless you steal nectarines.

The fatal principle, once allowed in that department, 
must sooner or later seep through our whole lives.

We thus advance toward a state of society in which not only each man
but every impulse in each man
claims carte blanche.

And then, though our technological skill may help us survive a little longer,
our civilization will have died at heart,
and will-
one dare not even add 'unfortunately'-
be swept away."

~C.S. Lewis~

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