> Tl;dr - "masking" making defining "authenticity" challenging for neurodivergent folks. Understood > But I don't think having a fixed concept of self is a un

> Tl;dr - "masking" making defining "authenticity" challenging for neurodivergent folks. Understood > But I don't think having a fixed concept of self is a universal experience. For me, (when I'm at my full potential) I'm able to select and deselect attributes of myself to express. I don't think anyone has a true "self". I am not who I was 10 years ago and neither are you. Physically, sure. Mentally? Metaphysically? Absolutely not. People you interact with aren't stagnant by definition. If they were, you wouldn't be interacting with them. Where the honesty (and the authenticity) comes into play is where who you are now is who you are representing. As for selecting and deselecting traits I don't think this is inauthentic. It's normal, actually, in that people do this to create connections. I like to think of it like a handshake. We each kind of discuss things we like, we eventually arrive in some consistent state, and now we're "connected". We are still authentic (in that we are still honest) but we have selected certain traits of ours that are similar enough to foster a relationship. Of course, the inauthentic person can exploit this by just replaying back what they hear. This usually doesn't last long though. Someone too similar also raises red flags. An authentic person, IMO, will present with things you like and things you don't like. The balance of that is what makes the relationship between the two. Admitting what appear to be a negative (I don't like X, I think X) is actually a good indicator of an honest person.