This paper offers my understanding of the nature of authentic Self in the twenty-first century. It is a personal reflection on the topic, written in response to a shift in my understanding of death and questions which arose within me in response to reading Yuval Noah Harari's book entitled Homo Deus.

The orientating reference point for this reflection on the nature of Love, comes from the writings of Anne Hillman: We stand at an evolutionary juncture, called to awaken to a new kind of Love. This Love is not a feeling, it is a great power. Awakening to this radically different Love may be gradual or it may come in a flash . . . Either way, it will shatter your perception of who you think you are." (From Awakening the Energies of Love: Fire for the Second Time)

The word hope is often used in everyday language: "I hope the traffic isn't too bad, I'm late for an appointment." "I hope you get that new job." "I hope it doesn't rain today." "Hope you have a good day." But what do we mean when we use the word hope? Is hope a form of wishful thinking born out of the desire to find certainty in life?

Recently I was involved in a conversation where the terms faith and non-faith were mentioned. For those individuals who found their sense of identity, purpose and belonging with a religious tradition, the term faith was ascribed. The term non-faith was ascribed for those who did not. Even though the term non-faith was in no way applied pejoratively, I found myself reacting strongly to it. The question of faith had become personal for me.

Recently I wrote an article entitled: The nature of truth in an age of perspectives. As a follow-on, this article offers one method for discerning personal inner truth. The method draws particularly from research undertaken by Bernard Lonergan in the field of human consciousness.

Within a western cultural context there is no longer a singular truth for the way we collectively give meaning to our living and our dying. Such a cultural shift has given rise to the notion that the term truth has been superseded by the term perspective. Within such a context, truth and perspective are viewed as two opposing concepts. Is this necessarily the case, or, may truth and perspective both have a place in the way we give meaning to our lived experience?