Modern man, however, seeks to be “true to himself.” Rather than conform thoughts, feelings, and actions to objective reality, man’s inner life itself becomes the source of truth. The modern self finds himself in the midst of what Robert Bellah has described as a culture of “expressive individualism”—where each of us seeks to give expression to our individual inner lives rather than seeing ourselves as embedded in communities and bound by natural and supernatural laws.2 Authenticity to inner feelings, rather than adherence to transcendent truths, becomes the norm.
