What Would Life Be like If We Were Able to Achieve Our Highest Intentions?

The Authentic Journey

By Scott Eck

What would life be like if we were able to achieve our highest intentions?

And what would life be like if we able to inspire and equip others to reach their highest intentions? These compelling questions, and the answers that await us, are the beginning and end points of an authentic life. An authentic journey. An authentic journey begins with a dedication to seeking and learning the truth about oneself, and about the environments that we create. It's about accurately perceiving one's habitual defense routines and, at the same time, accessing one's personal creative powers. It's about communicating through effective, transformational dialogues that are based in truth and in a shared human experience. By understanding and identifying one's personal defense routines, then bringing that understanding to high-status dialogues, we can then build high-status environments that encourage free expression and creativity in all stakeholders. Such environments benefit all participants in addition to supporting and elevating the larger community.

Authenticity is not about proving oneself or measuring oneself by the standards of others, it's about personal standards that cannot be compromised by political influence or by social pressure. It's about making a shift from conforming to society's demands to having the courage to listen and respond to the call of one's personal philosophy for contributing to the human experience. It's about elevating oneself toward higher intentions, and inspiring others to do the same.

An authentic life is less about self-interest and more about service. It's about having a willingness to grow rather than to maintain a pretense of perfection. It's about giving up the need for power and control in favor of the need to grow and to contribute. It's about personal mastery.