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Oh my goodness. Today through Saturday the conference of the SMTP (Socity for Mormon Philosophy and Theology) is being held at BYU. I attended several of the lectures today and it was an astounding experience. Each of the speakers addressed rather important issues and did so in a very rational manner. The lectures were free of the half-baked ideas you often get in Mormon "philosophy". The best part was that after the lectures there was a Q&A session with the speakers where very intelligent people (both Mormon and not) were able to carry on brilliant conversations. It's like heaven. I'll attend lecures tomorrow from 9:30 to 5:30 and some on Saturday. Brilliant stuff, really.

On another note, I've been thinking alot about the Heideggerian idea of Authenticity. I'm not going to pretend that my idea is what he meant but it is what I've come to see it as in my life. People are generally inauthentic. In any situation they are likely to only do what "one" does in that situation. This is inauthentic. They are not taking a stand on their being as any decent dasein would. When we are inauthentic we take a generalized approach to a situation. For instance, if we are teaching, we teach our classroom in a general way. If we are to approach it authentically, we will take this particular teaching experience and focus on the needs of the students. In general life, it means doing things because you want to do them and not because it's what "one" does. Authenticity doesn't mean morality, it simply means that you are actually directing your own life. Everyone has the capacity for this type of living at least some of the time but it doesn't seem that many take advantage of the opportunity. I suppose it's scary as it requires facing up to responsibility for the quality of our life and the things we do wrong. However, how can you have a rich life without living authentically as much as possible? Seems so empty. I find that talking to someone when they are in inauthentic mode is dissatisfying. But, it's hard to find authentic people. Bit of a conundrum, really.