Rousseau famously advocated for a man to live his most genuine life. To be the best and most honest possible iteration of themselves. Never putting his desires on hold simply to please somebody else, but instead leaning into and living out everything that he truly desires. We know this today as the authentic self.
What is most surprising is where this shows up. You might think that I’m going to speak about transgender, men thinking they are women, boys, thinking they are cats, and the list goes on and on (though it shows itself most in the sexual deviations), but I am going to talk about marriage.
Most of the reasons that people get divorced today have nothing to do with whether or not their spouse is attractive or whether or not they love their children. It has everything to do with whether or not they are happy in their marriage. And the way that they are gauging their happiness in marriage is not by the commitment that they made when they got married, it is by whether they feel fulfilled by it or not.
You may have heard somebody say something like, “I haven’t been in love with them for such a long time, I’m living a lie.” or you may have heard like, “our marriage is dead, and I’m living a lie.”
(See how I did the same thing exactly twice there?)
This is the exact same logic that is used by those who are deceived by gender, age, species dysphoria.
“I am not living up to what is inside of me.“
“but daddy, I love him!” – Ariel
Probably the worst offender of all, “let it go, let it go, can’t hold it back anymore.” – Elsa
If we treat our marriages as nothing more than whether we fill it or not, then, of course, we would find every marriage dissolved. This is of course, uncomfortable for many wives or husbands to hear, and good cause for a rep pursuing of each other, but it’s hard to get away from this mentality.
While Russo never intended for people to use this as pretext to go against nature, it is easy to see that they directly correlate. Marriage has ceased to be a promise that is kept, a covenant, and is instead given up to whatever whims one feels at the moment. This translates into leaving spouses and children, all under the pretext of “living a lie,“ or, “this just isn’t my authentic self.”
If you super hate what I just said, but I really interested in where it came from, you can read the book called Rise And Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman. I’m reading it this week for my cultural foundations class in seminary. Hope you enjoyed the thought or at the very least that it truly challenges you to understand some of your motivations.
The Christian is beholden to the law of God rather than to living out authentic self. Repression of sexual desire outside of marriage is not an evil thing, though the mentality of authentic self would claim it to be since it blocks you from doing what you “feel“. Feel like engaging? Comment below or leave a comment on my Facebook. See you around.
House Astorga 
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