Is an authority figure needed to redeem ourselves or is it possible to absolve ourselves from within?

Is an authority figure needed to redeem ourselves or is it possible to absolve ourselves from within?

I interpreted this as:
>"Do I need daddy's help to fix my fee-fees or should I actually grow up?"
The answer is simpler than you may think!

The problem lies with your use of the term 'ourselves.'

Statist authority figures are different from the individual mentors. Everyone needs an example or a model to follow. But there is some agency involved, that is to say, you should be aware of *choosing* the model which you follow.

People who say Follow Me are bad enough. It's worse, however, when you do it simply because they said so.

>The answer is simpler than you may think!

perhaps because you're simple-minded

I'm sorry I think it's not "ourselves" that needs to be redefined

By "authority figure" I mean God, the State, the Father, etc.

Let me rephrase, what I mean is "Do we need to affirm ourselves through the Other redemption?"

**"Do we need to affirm ourselves through the Other for redemption?"

Be a Light unto Yourself ~some guy

Nah anyone who tells you that is trying to manipulate or take advantage of you in some way.

Authority figures are only authority forces because that is what you make them out to be.

They are only an 'authority figure' because they match your definition of a leader, user.

yes it is always a matter of our own opinion that such and such person is a valid source of authority, therefore it is still our own authority that is preeminent in deciding value

WE ARE THE MASTERS OF OUR OWN UNIVERSE

Exactly.

look at the paths of people who lived selfish lives and ask yourself if there is a pattern, if so, what does that mean

But even so, how do I redeem myself through myself alone?

Even if there is someone to tell me to "forgive myself" then wouldn't that someone, outside of myself, and through his affirmation having the authority that I could finally forgive myself?

Through yourself, as in, you alone, without the ability to see your ideal virtue in others? I do not know, honestly.

That said, any proper figure of spiritual authority recognises that you put faith in him, and merely fullfills his own part, telling you what you want/need to hear. If he told you things you disagreed with, he wouldn't be your authority figure in the first place.

That is rather assumptive of you.

the idea of redemption, or more to precisely the idea that we "need redemption", need "to be redeemed" is a false construct. no one needs to be redeemed, and no one outside of yourself can redeem you. you can redeem yourself by doing something of value that overshadows whatever shitty things you have done so far to decrease the value of life.

acts, creations, are the only thing that can redeem a man's life.

but i guess what i meant to say is that to call it redemption gives it a weird religious connotation. as if you are asking for forgiveness or something. one should forget about redemption really. i think it's better to move on with your life and try to do better than you have done before. the past will not be erased no matter what you do. It's done. No amount of "redeeming" is going to undo the stupid or shitty things you've done in the past to yourself and others. You can only forge ahead, that's all.

Man is already redeemed from the brutality of nature. We're aware. Now we just need to decide what to do with it.

This is one of the reasons you fuckers need to believe in God. You get all the affirmation of an authority figure without the inconvenience of it being a human.

It's like you haven't read the posts in this thread.
It is still a matter of your own authority that god as you conceive him/her/it is the basis by which value is ascertained. And by which dispensation of 'god'? The catholic? The mystical? It always still comes down to the choice of your own authority, not matter how you try to cloak that fact semantically.

abstract and decide if void of all other people, things, and attitudes, we would desire, still, the absolving of ourselves or if it even be needed. It's quite obvious it only exists due to the existence of others.

So the putting faith in God is the only act that is purely from the self?

Sounds delusional.

is this what sarter meant 'when hell is other people'