Heidegger and the M&Ms

Scene: The Baja Men are blaring from the CD player in the kitchen. "Can you shake it like this? I can move it like that. Can you shake it like this? I can move it like that. Can you shake it like this? I can move it like that." Ad infinitum. It is 7:45 a.m. and Hannah my daughter and I are wolfing down a hurried breakfast, before we drive to summer camp. I stand up to take the breakfast dishes to the kitchen sink, and as I do, I turn around and notice this scene: Hannah, listening to and singing along with the Baja Men, is consuming a healthy breakfast of chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream and M&Ms on top. The music is among the worst I have ever heard, although, thank god, the lyrics are harmless, if dizzying. On the crowded kitchen table, right next to Hannah¹s chocolate chip pancakes, lies the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, which the night before, I have presciently, if unwittingly, opened to the entry, "Authenticity." It reads:

"The condition of those, according to Heidegger, who understand the existential structure of their lives. Heidegger held that each of us acquires an identity from our situationÐour family, culture, etc. Usually we just absorb this identity uncritically, but to let one¹s values and goals remain fixed without critical reflection on them is ‘inauthentic¹. The ‘authentic¹ individual who has been aroused from everyday concerns by angst, takes responsibility for their (sic) life and therefore ‘chooses¹ their own identity. But Heidegger also holds that some degree of inauthenticity is unavoidable; the critical assessment of values presupposes and uncritical acceptance of them, and the practical necessities of life give priority to the unreflective action over critical deliberation. So, as Heidegger makes clear, authenticity is like Christian salvation: a state which fallen individuals cannot guarantee by their own efforts."

I notice also that the dog is unremittingly scratching himself. Mental note: call vet. Additional mental note: refill propane tank so we can BBQ chicken for dinner tonight. One more mental note: the Oxford Companion has it wrong. It¹s not Christianity, per se, but Calvinism that says that "fallen" individuals can¹t guarantee salvation by their own efforts.

Meanwhile, I am attempting to achieve ‘authenticity¹: "The unexamined life isn¹t worth living." "I think, therefore I am." "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it." Etc. etc. etc. Thank goodness Hannah has left some M&Ms on her plate. Mental note: When I return from dropping Hannah off at camp, delete Being and Time from reading list and eat remaining M&Ms.