> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.foxwizard.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # 🏮 e1 // Pretend To Be Who You Really Are - URL: https://www.foxwizard.com/e1/ - Published: 2024-10-12T23:33:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-05-15T01:47:16.000Z - Description: This one’s for the shapeshifters. 🦊✨ - Author: Dr. Jason Fox - Tags: podcast, fox magic, Season 1, Episode 1 ![audio-thumbnail](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bf/97/bf97584c-3329-4c78-9441-9117defff6e1/content/media/2024/10/e1-shapeshifting--foxwizard--1_thumb.png) e1 // Pretend To Be Who You Really Are 0:00 /3579.585306 1× 🦊 Subscribe and listen on [Apple Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/foxwizard/id1645970777?ref=foxwizard.com), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2hkJuLE5VMED5rvDqnH4RL?ref=foxwizard.com) and [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeLHJRzrOWo%5FQXluAn65XjHQsoX3IjLvn&ref=foxwizard.com) --- In episode one we go full *!foxmagic.* You might find this episode *affirming* if you are a complex character who plays many roles in life. If you contain multitudes (you do) and yet sometimes struggle to live up to “Your True Authentic Self”—this episode is thy remedy. Stay awhile and listen as we dissolve the involuted notion of a singular “true authentic self” and instead *decentralise* our quest for authenticity—orienting instead towards *authentic relating*. In this way, we embrace the multiple personas we have, experiencing their contradictions as a generative force. This episode was crafted in response to the following question from a long-time subscriber of The Museletter. (Subscribe for free at [foxwizard.com](https://www.foxwizard.com/)) Your survey question that asked which of your personas I wanted to hear more from disturbed the waters. I have been challenging myself to release or tear down my personas. (The whole once-a-Marine-always-a-Marine thing is real!) I have tended to feel chameleonesque, like a pretender. But I see you embracing and seemingly curating your manifestations. How do you do that!? And, is it comfortable? I swear a few times in this episode, and it’s probably not safe for work (my work). But I suspect you’ll enjoy it. --- Keywords: *personas, authenticity, self-development, fluidity, relational dynamics, emotional acuity, complexity, growth* ### Chapters 00:00 *Whomst art thou?* 02:29 *This is take #78* 03:20 *A question of personas* 07:17 *The question as asked* 07:46 *Masks of amplified aspects of authenticity* 10:00 *Development as complexification* 11:37 *Authentic relating > authentic self* 12:14 *Waters; disturbed* 14:26 *Personas; muddled* 17:36 *An inescapably fluid character* 19:10 *Only that which can change* 19:45 *This podcast is for the shapeshifters* 20:56 *Embrace thy contradictions* 22:06 *Oh hello, MOLOCH* 23:44 *Hermetic mercuriality* 26:38 *Playing your Part* 28:15 *Who’s right?* 29:33 *Read the room* 30:52 *Embrace thy personas and parts* 33:12 *OODA loops* 36:27 *Chameleons are actually pretty fkn cool* 39:04 *Before tending comes pre-tending* 41:34 *Courting contrast and contradiction* 43:35 *Embracing and seemingly curating* 49:57 *And… is it comfortable?* 54:50 *Lean towards complexification* 58:12 *Thank you for listening* --- ### References - Shout out to [this podcast episode with Dr Myriam Hadnes](https://workshops.work/podcast/266/?ref=foxwizard.com), wherein we discuss—amidst many things, including the delicate sautéing of onions—how traumatic family dynamics can give rise to some deft facilitation sensibilities - I make reference to this fantastic episode [On Trauma and Vegetation Gods](https://www.themythicbody.com/podcast/reissue-trauma-vegetation-gods/?ref=foxwizard.com) by Josh Schrei on The Emerald Podcast - I, of course, reference James P. Carse’s [*Finite and Infinite Games*](https://wtf.tw/ref/carse.pdf?ref=foxwizard.com)*.* The full quote from the passage I read can be found below. - I have been finding sweet confluence betwixt the sensibilities of “The Fourth Way” (by Gurdjieff)—coupled with Layman Pascal’s [*Gurdjieff for a time between worlds*](https://www.amazon.com/Gurdjieff-Time-Between-Worlds-Hyperpersonal/dp/B0D3SS8Z3V?ref=foxwizard.com)—along with [*No More Gold Stars*](https://carolsanford.com/no-more-gold-stars/?ref=foxwizard.com) by Carol Sanford. And many other developmentally-inclined works besides. - The notion of “authentic relating”—whilst utterly intuitive and natural—was probably coalesced for me by Nora Bateson. I’ve listened to many podcasts with her as a warmly weaving guest. The technological metamodernist Stephen Reid has an exquisite set of knowledge graphs. Here’s one with [Nora Bateson + the term “relationship”](https://stephenreid.net/k/nora/terms/relationship?ref=foxwizard.com). --- > NO ONE CAN PLAY A GAME ALONE. One cannot be human by oneself. There is no selfhood where there is no community. We do not relate to others as the persons we are; we are who we are in relating to others. > > Simultaneously the others with whom we are in relation are themselves in relation. We cannot relate to anyone who is not also relating to us. Our social existence has, therefore, an inescapably fluid character. This is not to say that we live in a fluid context, but that our lives are themselves fluid. As in the Zen image we are not the stones over which the stream of the world flows; we are the stream itself. As we shall see, this ceaseless change does not mean discontinuity; rather change is itself the very basis of our continuity as persons. Only that which can change can continue: this is the principle by which infinite players live.