What does it mean to live an authentic life?

When we live the human life, it wants us to act seriously, as if the dream state was real. Solid, like the ground beneath our feet, slowly moving through the density of our little niche, weighted down by gravity and held captive by the shackles of our own conditioning. Identifications like my god, my country, my tribe, my family and the rest of it, with religion and politics as the strongest principles. The mind needs conditioning and identification to feel secure. Due to it’s limited capacity it only can feel safe when it is separating the good from the bad, the right from the wrong and it establishes laws to firmly incorporate these principles in society.

In a reputable human life one will follow these guidelines dutifully and diligently and will in return be rewarded by a sense of belonging. Everything as it should be, until one finds out that all of it is based on illusion. Not just a lofty philosophical concept, an extravagant idea or fantastic allegory, but a simple misperception of the mind: All we see and believe is simply not real. It does not exist.

Recognising that the human life is just an expression of being, does shift the focus and leads to the impulse of detaching from all the identification that keep us trapped in a dualistic and limited world. However, to really live the realness of it, one has to break through the barrier of fear. This is the first step to living an authentic life – to get to know that fear, be willing to be afraid, scared and terrified.

I am always wondering, why nobody really wants to talk about this primordial fear, which is induced by the death of the old and the birth of the new. To encounter this fear has to happen for anyone who wants to live a liberated life. It is the elemental fear of losing one’s sense of self, everything that we thought grounded us in security and go into free fall. Yes, there are the beautiful moments of recognising our true nature of being, but really, who has not experienced the fear that comes along with giving up control and losing the centre, just has managed to get a foot in the door of awakening.

Embracing fear is what is needed. It takes courage, stamina, a sense of humour and resilience, for it is coming back again and again. Embracing fear has to become an automatic process, because when we are open to it, we find that on the other end of fear is love. It is the ‘yes’ we find at the centre of the ‘no’. We simply need to understand, we do not find love until we embrace the fear.

Nothing is more important if we want to live a liberated life.