The authentic man says no to all forms of escapism. He meets his anxiety head-on. The authentic man realizes that anxiety can be both destructive and constructive. It can cause flight into inauthenticity, or it can be the catalyst for freedom. Man becomes authentic by making the right decisions. The inauthentic person seeks safety in normality. He denies his uniqueness by becoming ―average.‖ In this respect he acts much like a member of Friedrich Nietzsche‘s ―herd.‖ He believes as he is expected to believe, in accordance with societal convention. Suppressing the urge to excel, he levels himself downward and becomes ―everyman.‖ He abandons responsibility for his decisions and hence for his existence. He surrenders his ego and adopts the viewpoint of a victim. But still he does not escape anxiety, an inescapable mode of man‘s being. Anxiety manifests the threat of ―nothingness‖ (the nihil) in our being. It is inevitable that we will die. The authentic man comes to grips with the threat of nothingness. He knows he cannot escape his limitations, chiefly his temporality and finitude. Man conquers this through sheer resolve. He seeks to realize his potential in fullest measure. He faces the nothingness at every moment, living as it were, in advance of himself. He faces the future by taking full responsibility for his past. He decides to accept the past and confront his destiny with intentionality. This brings to mind the death of Ernest Hemmingway. Hemmingway acknowledged that he could not defeat death. The only victory he could achieve over death was to decide for himself the manner and moment of his death. One evening, after his wife retired, he meticulously set up his favorite hunting rifle so that by simply pulling the trigger he could blow out his brains. But we protest. As authentic as Hemmingway may have lived, as much as Heidegger might have approved, it doesn‘t much matter to ―Papa Bear‖ now. He‘s dead. Never to be heard from again. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century will write no more. Moreover, one day, despite his prodigious legacy, perhaps in a thousand years or a million years or whatever amount of time you want to imagine, he
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