As a first approximation, “authenticity” means communicating one’s thoughts and feelings as one feels them, without adding the thoughts and feeling made up for strategic purposes.
To elaborate on this, a common move in Circling is to notice the thoughts and feelings made up for strategic purposes and explicitly name the strategic purposes. That is, when I notice “I want to be closer to you,” I might directly say “I notice I want to be closer to you” instead of saying a sentence designed to have the effect of making us closer.
That is, just like I don’t think authenticity involves “saying everything you think,” I don’t think authenticity means “giving up on goals and strategies.”
To elaborate on this, a common move in Circling is to notice the thoughts and feelings made up for strategic purposes and explicitly name the strategic purposes. That is, when I notice “I want to be closer to you,” I might directly say “I notice I want to be closer to you” instead of saying a sentence designed to have the effect of making us closer.
That is, just like I don’t think authenticity involves “saying everything you think,” I don’t think authenticity means “giving up on goals and strategies.”