And why do we seek it?

Throughout the modern world, consumers seek authenticity. They look for genuine experiences, authentic cuisine, handmade fashions, and organic food.

A deep sense of falseness runs through the collective unconscious of the modern world. We seem to think that our normal lives are somehow unreal and inauthentic, and that genuineness can only be found by introducing something external into our lives.

The signs of this are everywhere. Young people move into an ethnic neighborhood because it seems more “authentic”. Products are marketed as “organic” or “genuine”. Ethnic cuisine restaurants tout their “authentic” cuisine. ^[1]

But what is this mysterious “something” that we seek? What exactly are we looking for when we seek authenticity? And what is it that we lack in the first place?

One possible definition of authenticity is that it is a form of supra-normalcy. We are seeking something more normal than normal life. Normal life is quite stressful for us upright hominids. We seek the normalcy of a previous era.

Because if there is one thing we all know about authenticity, it is that it cannot be found in the future or the present. It can only be found in the past.

Another possible definition of authenticity is the “natural”. ^[2] Modern life alienates us from the forests, plains, and beaches of our ancestors, and this creates a deep sense of dislocation in people. Every animal must have a sense of where it belongs in order to keep it in the environment to which it is adapted.

And we homo sapiens have not lived in cities and towns nearly long enough to have adapted to them.

Hence, we need parks and gardens and wilderness preserves in order to maintain our sanity. Even the most dedicated urbanite who would never dream of going camping appreciates the soothing, friendly qualities of a tree-lined street.

Yet another potential definition of “authentic” is “simple”. In purely mathematical terms, the complexity of our world is increasing. People invent things that other people can use to invent things. The nodes of human consciousness that are our minds are increasingly interconnected. The technologies of five years ago already seem quaint and antique.

So we seek in authenticity a version of the world that seems simpler and more innocent than our own. We buy things not simply for their basic utility (what you actually use it for) but for the feelings they evoke in us due to the associations we have in our minds about them.

So when a person buys an antique chest of drawers, or travels across town to buy organic vegetables at a farmer’s market, or listens to legendary jazz performances on the original vinyl, they are activating a whole complex array of positive associations in their minds. These associations form a (probably not very realistic) picture of the past in their minds and it is connection with this picture that we seek when we seek authenticity.

There is a sense that when something is authentic, it is closer to its source and thus somehow cleaner and clearer and hence more “real” than something that comes from the vast interconnected web of industrialization and commerce.

Hence the appeal of farmer’s markets and “artisnal” products. The young people of today express their alienation from nature and distrust of corporate capitalism by buying products made by the person who is selling them to you, from ingredients that were still in the ground yesterday.

To them, this is a guarantee not just of quality, but of that elusive quality of authenticity. It is more real to them because it is knowable. You know where it grew, who grew it, what it was fed, and there are no frightening chemical names on the ingredient list.

Whether or not this makes the product actually better in any measurable way is beside the point. They buy this product because they trust it. That makes it seem “authentic” to them. And that connection to their ideal of authenticity is the true purpose of the product.

Another source of the feeling of inauthenticity is the modern disconnection from community and cultural heritage. At some point in their lives, most people will seek a source of identity outside their families and friends. Modern society is uniquely unqualified at providing it.

We have severed ties with religion, extended family, even active democracy and the interplay of ideas. Humanity has never been more safe, prosperous, and prolific, but it has also never been so disconnected, disaffected, and depressed.

So much of modern life is virtual that it is no wonder that a sense of unreality pervades the modern zeitgeist. In the ideal of authenticity we seek some kind of reality, something solid and reliable in a sea of virtuality.

Whether we seek it in nature, ethnicity, or the past, we are seeking a connection to something greater than our self-oriented individualist consumer culture can provide. The quest for authenticity is, at its core, a quest for reality. Something that stands out from the cultural background noise of our daily lives and appeals not just to our civilized minds but to the deep longings of our primitive hearts.

Modern life is very good at meeting our basic needs.

Let’s hope that in the future, it can do more.

And I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.