According to the Heideggerian perspective, there are two levels of being-in-skiing, and that are authentic and inauthentic.
When we discover our being-there as a project of skiers with potentialities and in conditions of freedom and determinism, we are authentic. When we find ourselves in the skiing world, we initially doubt about the supposed danger that this environment generates and about not being able to assume our own control. Simultaneously, we experience a sense of unease upon learning that we have the freedom to assume our destiny as skiers.
We consistently acknowledge the fact that we possess the freedom to make responsible decisions. We are the skiers that we choose to be in each decision, selecting among the possibilities of action that the mountain offers us, because skiing is all about constant choice.
In the Heideggerian thought, when we are authentic we discover ourselves and when we feel dissatisfied with our own skiing because it is the same as everyone else’s. We feel anguish when we want to free ourselves from the impersonal which produces a ‘dummy’ effect where we, as individuals, are absent. In other words, we ski in such a way that is an ingrained habit that hides the authentic skiers we wish to be.
As authentic skiers, we adapt to our skiing environment with creativity. We encounter novel circumstances and allocate time towards self-improvement; however, if we are inauthentic, we may be ‘skied’ by others, specifically, by the “that’s the way to ski” approach. We do not reflect our own skiing because we become a Sartrean skier-other, since we ski as someone else pretends (relative, friend, instructor).
Authentic skiing is when we choose to start with ourselves and not depend on the opinions of others. However, as inauthentic skiers, we have not yet discovered our empty situation. We are not concerned with transcending or creating our own authentic skiing, since we ski in the immediateness, dragged along by everyday life.
In our relationships with others, we are content to be together-with-others, and not concerned with constituting our own skiing as we accept the similarity to others, subordinating ourselves to a conforming form of skiing style. Our actions are characterized by daily charlatanism, persistent expectation, and ambiguity. We use verbiage to overshadow our existence and hide the skiing nothingness in which we find ourselves. We attend to the superficial and seek out insignificant experiences. Being satisfied with what we see, we do not try to discover the true meaning of skiing. Due to our ambiguity, we fail to distinguish between significant and superfluous experiences, focusing on the opinions of others rather than the voice of our own conscience.
It is important to understand that, in inauthenticity, our existence as skiers is confused by the presence of others, which tends to lead us to this state. Conversely, if we are authentic, we overcome the presence and interference of others, leading us freely. By being authentic skiers we create ourselves, whereas if we are inauthentic, we allow ourselves to be created by others. As with all beginners, we begin skiing with the intention of being unique and end up being a skiing copy of someone else. If we are inauthentic, we deny ourselves in the lack. However, by being authentic, we are inspired by the abundance.
To conclude, as authentic skiers our logic is that if someone can ski a certain run, it means we can ski it too. If nobody is able to ski it, it means we should be the first to ski it. Conversely, if we have inauthentic logic, we believe that if someone can do it, then we should let him do it. If no one is capable of skiing it, why should we be the first to attempt it?
