{"id":595,"date":"2009-07-08T13:58:53","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T13:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html"},"modified":"2009-07-08T13:58:53","modified_gmt":"2009-07-08T13:58:53","slug":"are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html","title":{"rendered":"Are We Obligated to Live Authentically?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over at Beliefnet’s “Everyday Ethics”<\/a> blog, Hillary Fields wrote a beautiful piece<\/a> today we thought you might enjoy. It’s on whether it’s actually unethical to live a life that’s not true to who you are. <\/p>\n

Some snippets:<\/p>\n

“I value nature: I live in the heart of NYC. I value contemplation: I choose to have CNN or MSNBC (or All My Children) droning in my ear all day long to keep me company while I work…<\/p>\n

So it occurred to me to wonder: Is it unethical to treat this sacred and fragile life I’ve been given with such callous disregard?…<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n
“Were I the guardian of someone else’s life, I wouldn’t treat it the way I am treating my own. I’d feel obliged to make something special of it, treat its body and its spirit with respect, like a gracious host should.” <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
It’s a really fantastic question, perhaps the<\/em> question. This notion of fulfilling our dharma, becoming our most actualized selves, being externally congruent with our true essence–not as some sort of navel-gazing trip, but for the sake of humanity. What would our planet look like if we all followed our bliss? What if we treated ourselves with the compassion we often tender to others? Would it be chaos? Unwashed dishes? Heart-bursting beauty? Fathomless calm? <\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
As Mary Oliver wrote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do\/with your one wild and precious life?”<\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n
Do read all of Hillary’s post here: http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/07\/is-it-unethical-to-live-an-inauthentic-life.html<\/a><\/div>\n
 <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over at Beliefnet’s “Everyday Ethics” blog, Hillary Fields wrote a beautiful piece today we thought you might enjoy. It’s on whether it’s actually unethical to live a life that’s not true to who you are. Some snippets: “I value nature: I live in the heart of NYC. I value contemplation: I choose to have CNN or MSNBC (or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-valerie-reiss","category-holistic-living","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\nAre We Obligated to Live Authentically? - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are We Obligated to Live Authentically? - Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over at Beliefnet’s “Everyday Ethics” blog, Hillary Fields wrote a beautiful piece today we thought you might enjoy. It’s on whether it’s actually unethical to live a life that’s not true to who you are. Some snippets: “I value nature: I live in the heart of NYC. I value contemplation: I choose to have CNN or MSNBC (or…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fresh Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-08T13:58:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"vreiss\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are We Obligated to Live Authentically? - Fresh Living","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are We Obligated to Live Authentically? - Fresh Living","og_description":"Over at Beliefnet’s “Everyday Ethics” blog, Hillary Fields wrote a beautiful piece today we thought you might enjoy. It’s on whether it’s actually unethical to live a life that’s not true to who you are. Some snippets: “I value nature: I live in the heart of NYC. I value contemplation: I choose to have CNN or MSNBC (or…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html","og_site_name":"Fresh Living","article_published_time":"2009-07-08T13:58:53+00:00","author":"vreiss","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html","name":"Are We Obligated to Live Authentically? - Fresh Living","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-07-08T13:58:53+00:00","dateModified":"2009-07-08T13:58:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/df896dd70b2001a7a331d7c0264dbd4d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/07\/are-we-obligated-to-live-authentically.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are We Obligated to Live Authentically?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/","name":"Fresh Living","description":"Holistic, Health and Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/df896dd70b2001a7a331d7c0264dbd4d","name":"vreiss","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/7e2\/7e2e836248d6127446bfae5802ee2a83x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/7e2\/7e2e836248d6127446bfae5802ee2a83x96.jpg","caption":"vreiss"},"description":"Valerie Reiss is Holistic Living Editor at Beliefnet. She was a founding editor at Breathe magazine, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Women's Health, Natural Health, Yoga Journal, Lime.com, Vegetarian Times, and ABCNEWS.com. A native New Yorker, Valerie holds an M.S. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. from Beloit College in Creative Writing with a minor in Women's Studies. She also lived in Maui for a while where she drank green papaya juice and taught some creative writing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/author\/vreiss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}