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A Phenomenological Analysis of Authentic Experience

The author employed the phenomenological research method as articulated by Adrian van Kaam, Amedeo Giorgi, and Donald Polkinghorne to conduct an analysis of authentic experience. In the first section of this article, prior to presenting the method and results of her research, the author reviews selected Western psychological and Eastern philosophical literature on authentic experience. The central section of this article describes the research wherein self-reflection, interviews with 14 individuals (11 women and 3 men, all college-educated professionals between the ages of 35 and 55), classical and contemporary literature, poetry, and Zen stories were all used to answer the question, What is authentic experience? The analysis resulted in the identification of 14 constituents of authentic experience and the development of a general structural description and an extended structural description of authentic experience. The author hypothesizes that authentic experience might be clinically fostered by an existential psychotherapeutic approach that draws on the theories and praxis of Zen and Taoism, body/mind psychology, and clinical philosophy. She briefly discusses authentology, a term she coined to refer to the study of factors that contribute to or hinder a person's natural drive toward authenticity.