A Portrait of a Fully Flourished Age of Authenticism

When the Age of Authenticism has fully flourished—sometime in between the years 2035 and 2045, what will America and the world look like?

The purpose of this article is to answer this question with specifics.

First of all, it should be noted that an Age of Authenticism in this world will not translate into human perfection or a global utopia.  In the margins, vestiges of pre-structuralism and postmodernism will always persist to perpetuate predictable problems.  Just as corruption, greed, and inequality created and tarnished the gilded age following the Civil War and profound racial prejudice persisted during the prosperous years following World War II, the authentic era following Strauss and Howe's "Crisis of 2020" will not be without its problems. [1]

Click HERE, HERE or HERE to learn more about the "Crisis of 2020"

At Freedom Focused, we foresee a day when the status quo of the collective populace is markedly different—meaning greatly improved—from where we presently stand.  This shift will not begin in society at large; it will begin in the minds, hearts, and spirits of individuals who choose to become self-action leaders by patterning their thoughts, speech, and actions after the ideals of Self-Action Leadership.

The result of this authentic flourishing will bring about monumentally positive and creative impacts on the culture-at-large in the Western World and beyond.

Education will drive the Age of Authenticism

Driven by the principle of Existential Growth (holistic personal and professional character and skill development) championed in the Self-Action Leadership Theory and Model, the Age of Authenticism will forge a dramatic shift in American culture in coming decades.  Spurred by the "Crisis of 2020" and illuminated by hope spawned by an education in Self-Action Leadership and a desire to prevent a World War 4 from ever occurring, the cultural malaise of the postmodern period—marked by narcissism, hedonism, nihilism and secular godlessness—will give way to a new era highlighted by selflessness, sacrifice, existential meaning, and religious faith.

An Authentic Age
will produce a Rich Age

Such a dramatic shift will be bad news for academic, political, commercial, artistic, and other cultural icons and their minions who grew rich and powerful during the materialistic postmodern period.  This shift will be good news for authentic educators and citizens who recognize and affirm the existence of absolute Truths with a capital "T."

Driven by a shifts in education, the world will begin to rebound both culturally and economically.  While poverty will never be diminished entirely, it will begin to give way to a large degree to a worldwide expansion of the middle class.  In addition, the upper classes will grow larger and more diverse than ever before in human history.  Income inequality will still exist, but it will simultaneously become less salient—and ironically, less demonized.

Old age will be venerated in the
Age of Authenticism

The narcissistic worship of youth in the West will give way to an Eastern-esque veneration of the elder class.  The cultural respect and attention gap that presently exists between grown adults (and even senior citizens) who are educated, successful, and good—and snobbish, narcissistic teenagers and yuppies who are talented singers, dancers, artists, business persons, pundits, or athletes—will begin to narrow.  While the number of YouTube "clicks" any ignoramus can generate will always exert some cultural sway, purveyors of flotsam and jetsam (virtual or otherwise) will become increasingly marginalized.





Education will be driven by the newly sacrosanct (even if secular) notion that truth with a capital "T" is a real phenomenon to be carefully accessed and abided by if you desire positive and constructive consequences in the long run.  Academicians who peddled the rubbish of relativity with regards to truth—who were widely venerated during the postmodern period—will appear as self-absorbed buffoons in kinder corners of the Age of Authenticism, and as devilish pariahs to be forever castigated among the authentic balance of society.

America's Greatness lies in
her adherence toTrue Principles of
Liberty, Freedom, Morality
& Self-Government

With a focus on Truth, teachers and students alike will seek not so much to earn (or learn) something from their studies, but rather to become something better than they were before in an effort to become worthy citizens who are a genuine asset to whatever collective populace they represent.  As a result, multitudes of individuals will enter the work force with a collective character and integrity unseen since the World War II generation went to work in the late 1940s.  The result will be an economic and cultural boom that in many ways parallels, but that ultimately exceeds, that which took place in 1950s and 1990s America.
 
Business will thrive as never before because executives will be less corrupt and more philanthropic.  Moreover, these same officers will hire and train a workforce and leadership team that is impressive not only in intellect, but in integrity.

Government & Politics will, for a period of time, be greatly transformed.  The questions of competence and/or character that plagued the Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations will be replaced by the leadership and results of the Roosevelt (Theodore & Franklin), Kennedy, and Reagan years.  Congress will manage to restore its approval rating to an unimagined 50% or better.  The Supreme Court will legislate less and judge more.  

Law Enforcement will be more respected than it has in a cycle of generations.  At the same time, peace officers will have more respect for those they serve than ever in the history of the nation.  Many inner city areas will be transformed into prosperous, bustling urban neighborhoods.  Suburban areas will become increasingly diverse, not because government has legislated that it must be so, but because more minorities will have risen in life by virtue of improved public education which will further magnify their impressive talents, and abilities in proportion to the efforts they invest.  More suburbanites and rural dwellers will be open minded to living side-by-side a wider range of races and ethnicities.  

Personal finance will be transformed.  Individual debt will be minimized to an extent that many in the previous generation believed possible.  Most people will free themselves from debt and many will have a growing savings.  Frugality and balance will replace fiscal profligacy and excess at individual, familial, community, corporate, state, and national levels.

Transportation will achieve a quality never before seen in world history.  Airlines will be more efficient and more comfortable while maintaining middle class affordability.  Bullet trains and futuristic hyperloops will effectively compete with air transporters.  Ground transportation will be safer and more affordable than ever.  Less and less oil will be needed to power all of the above.

Religion will proliferate as it has rarely done in American History.  Many different dominations will benefit from an influx of church goers, and most will unite in a sincere embrace of faith-based collectivity aimed at the greater good of the nation and world—aside from any specific doctrinal differences.  

Environmental Issues will be front and center and progressive, but less extreme and divisive as they were in the latter-half of the postmodern period.  I do not presume to predict what will occur with global warming trends, although I feel confident that developed nations will continue to make environmental progress while successfully applying pressure by degrees to developing nations who still have a long ways to go.

The traditional family as
the root of society in the Age of Authenticism

The family, having grown more diverse than ever before in human history, will maintain its diversity and rights in both the mainstream and the fringes.  Different families will respect each other and practice greater tolerance even as the notion of the traditional family—consisting of a mother and father (who are legally wed and conjugally faithful) and their children—receives greater approbation than it ever did in the second half of the postmodern period.  This will come as a result of a collective return to faith as well as an overwhelming body of social science research that corroborates the nomologically self-evident and scientifically indisputable individual and societal benefits arising from nuclear families thusly arranged.

America is destined to
continue world leader

In short, during the Age of Authenticism (2025-2045) the United States and world will, in many regards, be better, safer, and more pleasant and prosperous places to live than they ever have been in the history of the world.  Having successfully met and overcome the dire challenges posed by the "Crisis of 2020," the United States will retain its position as the lone world superpower.  Having built its military into the largest and most powerful fighting force the world has ever seen (even to surpass the U.S. force extant in 1945) and been victorious in the mighty struggle, the postwar "Powers-that-be" will once again embrace the paradigm of Hadrian, Washington, Kennedy, and Reagan, which affirms that, "only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed."  [2]

As goes America, so goes the world

Despite the rise of China, India, Brazil, and other nations, the 21st Century will turn out to be a new American Century led by a United States that embraces the economic, political, social, and cultural rise of all other nations.  The United States will never seek to dominate by force or coercion; but she will always embrace her calling to lead by the veracity of her collective principles and the moral force of her kind and compassionate leadership.  As such, every other nation willing to embrace constitutional principles of free government, the rule of law, and the liberty of the individual, will likewise rise and eventually prosper.

It will be, in short, an age for the ages — the greatest age the world has ever seen.

Unfortunately, the Age of Authenticism will not last forever.  As the cycles of history continue their march into the future, dire times will circle round once again in decades beyond the 2040s.  I do not presume to predict past the point of progress and authenticity described in this article beyond my personal conviction that at some unknown point in the future, He who created this world in the first place, and He whom I believe has atoned it from an otherwise inevitable ruin, will, with the scepter of righteousness and the crown of eternal glory and godhood, eventually return again in an unprecedented display of both majesty and ubiquity—to take His rightful place on the Earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  I do not presume to know a period or date when such a glorious event will occur, nor do I believe any man save God Himself has any specific knowledge of such things.  Nevertheless, I am a man firmly rooted in the faith and cause of the Christians (generally speaking).  As such, I firmly believe that it will occur.  As for what will occur from this point in time on until the end of the world, I can only point you to the prophecies of the Holy Prophets in the Old and New Testaments and other Sacred Writ.

Whether you are a believer or not, and whether you are a Christian or not, I invite men and women everywhere to invest the study, effort, and time required to become the principle-centered self-action leaders who will both lead and prosper during this period of authenticity.  You can begin by buying my new book — a secular TEXTBOOK  FOR  LIVING —which I wrote in an effort to unite all liberty loving, freedom seeking, and law abiding citizens who are determined to do their part to make the world a better place by virtue of their presence therein.

God Bless the United States of America—a blessed land of promise—now, and always.

Click HERE to buy a copy of Dr. Jordan Jensen's new book, Self-Action Leadership: The Key to Personal, Professional, & Global Freedom.

SELF-ACTION LEADERSHIP is the key catalyst for initiating transformational leadership that lasts in any organization. The truth of the matter really is that simple; and the transformation of organizations through the holistic development of individuals really is that difficult—yet altogether possible for anyone willing to invest the time, effort, and sacrifice required to achieve authentic, transformational results.

Unlike any training program that has ever preceded it, Self-Action Leadership provides a single vehicle wherewith individual self-leaders can discover—and then act—upon the great truth that HOLISTIC personal development and growth spanning the mental, moral, spiritual, physical, emotional, and social elements of our individual natures is within the grasp of each one of us.

Note: Freedom Focused is a non-partisan, for-profit, educational corporation. As such, we do not endorse or embrace political figures. We do, however, comment from time-to-time on historical or political events that provide pedagogical backdrops to illuminating principles contained in the SAL Theory & Model.

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Notes:

1.  Strauss, W. & Howe, N. (1991). Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584-2069.   Quill: New York, NY. Page 382. (p. 382).
2. John F. Kennedy.  1960 inaugural address.