Authentic Orange

Being authentic is a trait individuals are losing in today’s society. We see people out in the streets glued to their iphones not even trying to connect with those that pass them by. To go out into society and be authentic first the individual must become aware of themselves. In order for one to start becoming more authentic they must first realize what their current situation is; a state of mind that Sartre called “in-itself” and a “for-self” state (4/9) . So what does that mean? The in-itself is to realize that choices you make will, and do, affect you in a way that you will have no control over or are unaware of. The for-self is to be conscious of the choices you have made and to be confident that you truly made the choice for yourself because there was a motive to do so. Once these two concepts are realized then one can go on to make decisions that come from ones needs. This however is easier said than done, because another factor comes into play which is fear.

Fear doesn’t present itself in a physical form but more of a fear created in a persons mind. Fear to have freedom will create an inner conflict on whether a choice about to be made is the right or wrong choice to do. To truly be authentic it is up to the individual to make that decision. Every decision made by oneself will always affect that individual. Another way to put it is, again, through Sartre’s words, ” Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.” (5/28). Realizing that whatever we will to do is entirely up to us will get rid of that ambiguity of a right or wrong choice and open our eyes to see which decision is truly best. What is determined to be right from wrong is up to the individuals values; what he/she beliefs in terms of politics, sustainability, ethics, religion, socioeconomic status, etc. There is also that fear of what others will think, a fear I believe defines who is truly authentic or not when speaking of college students.

The clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the phones we have, and the class we take make up who a college student appears to be. Being surrounded by so many individuals it often takes a while to realize who the authentic individuals are. The authentic ones do not base their actions on what others will think or say about them. An individual who does not like to listen to a particular genre of music who surrounds themselves with individuals who do and informs them that they love that genre is lying to themselves and is being inauthentic. This was a concept known as bad faith(5/26). Bad faith is when we deny our transcendence and our facility component of  our existence, the it-self and for-self, which would be lying to yourself in order to feel acceptance. An authentic person will go on in their lives doing what they like to do while disregarding what others might think of their actions. Authenticity can be reached once the inner fear is removed, this fear is holding back a person because one isn’t even sure if a choice will end the way we believe or not. In The Encounter with Nothingness a line hits this point dead on, “Most of the time dangerous or threatening situations present themselves in different perspectives; they will be apprehended through a feeling of fear or of anguish according to whether we envisage the situation as acting on the man or the man acting on the situation.” (117). Simply put it, to be authentic become conscious of yourself and surroundings and then remove that fear of what if.

By Andrea Campbell

When asked “what does it mean to be Orange?” someone may respond with the Oregon State fight song or reasons why going to the school make them a fan, but to an existentialist it poses a much more in depth thought. As a senior who has spent many years here it is important to me to fully understand its meaning. Authenticity is defined in class as being true to yourself and not as others would want you to be, Sartre defines it as, “isn’t just being honest to others about your feelings. It is being honest to yourself about your own desires and the reasons behind your actions” (Lecture, 5-26-15). So to be a fan of something and not have anyone’s actions influencing your decision can be more challenging, to be “Orange” you would have to feel it and know it without anyone being able to shake you of it.
It is easy to deceive yourself when surrounded by thousands of people who go for a certain team, or have grown up in a household that has been Beaver fans for their whole life, but because you have grown up around it does not mean you are “it”. Sartre explains “That in certain cases choice is founded upon an error, and in others upon the truth. One can judge a man by saying that he deceives himself (Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism 5/12). This crowd thinking can cause you to be inauthentic and become part of the heard. Leaders of the crowds at OSU want you to be authentically Orange and be a beaver fan and love your new “home”. It is not their fault if you are being untrue to yourself, Kierkegaard puts it simply, “There is therefore no one who has more contempt for what it is to be human being than those who make it their profession to lead the crowd” (Kierkegaard, The Crowd is Untruth). Meaning that they want you to follow, but do not make you, and do not like when there are too many true individuals which might disrupt their leading. People like to be in the in what Nietzsche calls the “herd” (lecture, 5/5). It is easier to follow and can be easier for a time to lie to yourself in order to fit in a crowd or allow someone to lead you. We have be taught that there are leaders and followers thought our lives and have not always studied the importance of the individual. Thus being somewhat conditioned to believe that we fall into one of those categories. Nietzsche states, “he lies in the manner indicated, unconsciously and in accordance with habits which are centuries’ old; and precisely by means of this unconsciousness and forgetfulness he arrives at his sense of truth” (Nietzsche, On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense 5/21).
To be “authentically Orange” you must believe and know that you want to be here and that you belong here. You cannot act in bad faith when deciding to go to class, do assignments, or go to events (Lecture, 6/2/15). When deciding to even apply for the school you must want it for your own reasons and not because you were influenced or forced. I feel like I have been authentic in my time here at OSU, I have has many choices and not felt obligated or stressed to follow any certain path other than the one I have chosen. There is something at this school for everyone to be able to express themselves authentically and a lot of opportunities for followers to become leaders and leaders to become teachers.

Submitted by Ashley Martin

To be authentic is to be real or “to be your true self” (lecture, 4/16/15). Although, I’d have to argue that sometimes it can be more difficult than it sounds. Sartre presents this obstacle of authenticity in our lecture on 4/9/15. “Being in-itself” or “being for itself” are main categories of being. When one is being in-itself, one is unconsciously living, going through the motions and living without real purpose. When one is being for-itself, one lives with freedom from the mind, freedom from the physical realm and is at peace with who they are. Today, our society is filled with these things called ‘social norms’. This is a huge obstacle that many struggle with in growth and development of the self. From birth we are molded by our parents, coaches and significant others. These norms can be anywhere from physical appearances to how we decide to talk. Norms are expectations and cues within a society or group. Nietzsche said, “the ‘Herd’ can often lead individuals to act in unauthentic ways, or to be less authentic themselves (lecture, 5/5/15). Consequently children are told to follow the rules, to not question our superiors and to be “good little kids”. These kids grow up and eventually enter high school. Here, you are told to “be yourself, don’t follow the crowd, and stand up for what you believe.” Sounds easy until you are that 16 year old looking in the mirror realizing you have no idea who you are because all you have ever been is a product of your parents and social institutions you have been exposed to all your life. This introspection in the mirror is the conscious shift of being that Sartre was speaking of. Once you draw awareness to who you want to be versus who you actually reflect, you start to focus on yourself instead of every other person in the crowd.

A brighter light is when society accepts the fad you have always wanted to follow. The ice finally has been broken allowing you to express yourself in the way you have always wanted to. But the question remains, wouldn’t you just express the real you if society was accepting or not? That is more of what authenticity is, not waiting for the acceptance but being the real you from the start. Which reminded me a lot of what Kierkegaard was talking about in The Crowd. He said, “even if every individual possessed the truth in private, yet if they came together into a crowd, untruth would at once be let in” (Kierkegaard, The Crowd is Untruth, Paragraph 4). Individuals are themselves when they are alone or feel welcomed to be themselves. In that situation there is nothing but truth. But when all together in a group there are walls being put up, and things being protected from judgment or hurt, which is untruth. We should embrace our individuality, be the person who breaks social norms, starts new trends, and is the purest human being for others to branch off of. Being an individual in college can be rough.

Coming to college I have discovered that here is where you find the real you. Discovering if you are able to think on your own, make life choices, handle life’s stressors and find what brings you happiness. To be authentically orange means to take pride in your school, take full advantage of your opportunities and make Oregon State proud to have you. What it means to be an authentic beaver is living in unison with the ethic codes of OSU. This is a school that stands for equality in marriage, race, job discrimination and much more. This University is founded on adversity and the acceptance of beavers no matter their roots. To be authentic is to find individuality in the standards of this university; while still up holding the morals and ethics this university lays as a foundation to build from. Honestly, I don’t think you would be here at OSU if you were not already authentically orange. Oregon State gives you everything you need to be successful and what you need to be YOURSELF. So I say give back and bleed orange. A challenge in the college community comes as level of need to fit into something. You cannot be authentic if you don’t have a place where you feel you fit or belong. If that is the case, don’t give up on the real you just keep searching. It’s common for students to drift off onto easier pathways so they can succeed. Be nothing but authentic.

Authenticity is being true to one’s own self. Therefore in this instance let’s say that to “Be Orange” is to be authentic in the form of conversation as it relates to relationships. It is important to begin first with the idea that we are condemned to freedom, second we ought not to procrastinate in relationships, and third to recognize that human nature is represented in the universality of communication. The synthesis of these three parts points towards the necessity of authentic relationships in Oregon State University, in order to “Be Orange”.
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Submitted by Jordan Quesenberry

The Guide to an Authentic Life

 “Throughout the longest era of humanity, There was nothing more frightful then feeling single. Being alone, perceiving as a single person, neither obeying nor ruling, constituting an individual – That was no pleasure then, but a punishment; one was condemned ‘to being individual’… In this respect we have reversed our attitude most of all” (Nietzsche, Herd, pg. 117)

–Friedrich Nietzsche

Being Real With Yourself

Authenticity is all about being real, true, genuine, and most importantly being real with yourself. The definition of authenticity consists of choosing in a way which reflects the nature of itself as both transcendence and facticity. Being real with yourself is an extremely important part of our existence. It is a part of the first existential theme, Existence precedes essence. Which means what you are is a result of your choices. (Lecture, 5/21/15) Choosing to come to Oregon State University was my first step into becoming authentically orange. I had to be real with myself and understand that I wanted to go to Oregon State for me and no one else. Choosing was my first step to authenticity in my new found orange lifestyle.

The Struggle

My struggle with truly becoming and living orange arouse very early, before I even got to school. I was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon and all my life I and my father have been huge fans of the University of Oregon. The struggle was not if I could cope with leaving the school I had supported all my life, but if my father could handle me going to not just a different school, but the rival of his beloved ducks. By making this decision I went through what Sartre would consider the third existential theme, Humanism; in doing this I was pursuing my own identity and finding meaning through the oppositions I faced. (Lecture, 5/21/15) I had to continually remind myself that I was not doing this for him, but I was doing this for myself, and I am able to live authentically orange because I know that every morning when I walk around campus with the new friends I have made, I feel at home and I know that I made the right decision.

Constantly Living Orange

In order to constantly live authentically Orange, you have to consistently be true to yourself and honest about who you are and who you are not. When you are pretending to be someone else or do things that you know you wouldn’t do, it begins to get into denying our transcendence or our facticity. You have to be totally honest with yourself and not do things just because you aren’t entirely sure what to do, and someone else is encouraging it because that would be considered denying facticity. (Lecture, 6/2/15) In a more school specific example, if you are known to procrastinate and spend time doing things you shouldn’t be doing in order to avoid those tough school assignments, and you say to yourself something along the lines of, “I’ll just make sure that NEXT TIME I study sooner and get it done way beforehand” that would be denying transcendence. I do my best to stay authentically orange because I know that I have an issue with procrastination, but I don’t tell myself that next time I will make a complete 360 degree change, but what I do is do little pieces at a time but just start early.

Remembering Who You Are

            Being authentically orange doesn’t start or end when you are in school. Striving to be an authentic individual of society is extremely important to living a meaningful, happy life, and Nietzsche emphasizes in his Eternal Recurrence. (Lecture, 6/2/15) He does this by saying, if you were condemned to live the same life over and over again, would you be happy and praise the god, or be furious and scorn the demon. Remembering who you are will help you to always be authentic, and remembering who I am and what values I hold most dear is something that helps me to live authentically orange in my community, no matter what struggles face me.

Submitted by: Benjamin Herzog

“What does it mean to Be Orange?” is a relatively easy question to answer. Anybody who attends Oregon State University, works for OSU, or is involved with OSU in anyway shape or form can ‘Be Orange’. However, what does it mean to be authentically ‘Be Orange’? This is a harder question to answer, as it could mean one hundred different things to one hundred different people. According to Sartre, authenticity “isn’t just being honest to others about your feelings. It is being honest to yourself about your own desires and the reasons behind your actions” (Lecture, 5-26-15). But what does this have to with being orange? Sartre’s definition of authenticity is something we should expect from everybody, not just people that are orange. This also plays into Sartre’s viewpoint on ethics where he explains that when choosing for one’s self, one chooses for all humans (Lecture, 5-21-15). Being a part of the OSU community, it is important to follow this belief as, your own actions will have a profound effect on others around you.

Perhaps the most difficult task when trying to authentically be orange is standing out in a crowd. With over 24,000 active students it can be hard to be seen as an individual. This also brings up the issue of people actively trying to blend in with the crowd or becoming a part of the “herd”, as Nietzsche describes it. As Nietzsche describes, being a part of a large herd we are seen as a single person and lose our individuality (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, pg. 130). In doing so we give up our authenticity and adopt morals and traits that may not be our own (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, pg. 116-119). Avoiding this can be difficult for many people, as it is only natural to desire to be accepted by your peers. Sometimes for many people this is obtained easiest by becoming a part of their herd and adopting their morals, traits, like and dislikes. This ties into Sartre’s definition of authenticity where one must be true to oneself and to others; being a part of a herd breaks both of these rules.

Kierkegaard agrees with this point, stating that the crowd is “untruth, and makes the individual irresponsible” (Lecture, 5-5-15) When one is part of a herd it is easy to pass off one’s responsibilities onto somebody else, further diminishing their authenticity. Being a part of a herd also may make somebody do something they normally wouldn’t do. This can be a big deal when some of these actions are unethical. This also ties into Sartre’s definition of authenticity where in order for one to be authentic they must be honest with themselves and others. “since the individual is defined only by his relationship to the world and to other individuals; he exists only by transcending himself, and his freedom can be achieved only through the freedom of others” (Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity). Beauvoir believes that freedom can only be achieved through the freedom of others. If freedom is being authentic, and to be authentic one must be honest with oneself and others, then true freedom and authenticity can only be achieved when everybody is honest with others.

Obviously something like that probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon. However, in the time being we can still try to be authentic as possible. Treat others the way you want to be treated, be honest with yourself and to others and don’t get stuck in the crowd. Being a part of a group itself is fine, but don’t let the group change who you are or affect any decisions you make. You are a result of your actions so don’t let other people make decisions for you (Lecture, 5-12-15). All in all, being authentically orange is to be a beaver and everything being a beaver involves, but also being yourself, being an individual not defined by the people they associate themselves with and making their own decisions that aren’t influenced by others. Go Beavs!

Submitted by Christian Nomi

Does being a student at Oregon State make you authentic? To truly dive into, and understand this question we must first define what it means to be authentic. Authenticity in my eyes, is a way for an individual to not be oppressed by societal views or opinions and to live freely to push towards ones goals and ambitions. In terms of “Being Orange,” it’s all about discovering who you are as a person as you push towards your goal of graduation. College is a new unexplored territory for most freshman who for the first time in their lives, feel free. But as we grow as human beings and individuals we are all threatened by outside forces and obstacles.

The pressures of peers in college is a serious obstacle and guide to finding one’s own self. In essence college is about finding oneself, but you can get trapped into what Nietzsche calls the herd instinct (Lecture, 5-5-15). This in turn removes the authenticity from oneself towards the following of others which is not freedom.  Listening and following others opinions, all though not always wrong, is not a strong way to live authentically because you are not making your own decisions in life. This also follows Kierkegaard’s Crowd theory which talks about how all dedication goes to a single individual (Lecture, 5-5-15).  Groups are made up of all kinds of individuals with their own goals yet to be realized in a decentralized pattern. Often times this weakens the responsibility of the individual and puts it on the group or leader. These theories often hold true in college environments where often time’s students feel lost and feel like they have nowhere to go. This leads individuals to join groups or organizations such as Fraternities, Sports teams, or clubs on campus. But in the end is it necessarily a bad thing in affects to authenticity?

In the end you make choices for a reason. Joining a group or organization doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t be authentic to yourself. In fact, you can grow from these groups and gain a lot of important experiences out of them. The key that you have to realize is who you are is a result of your actions and nobody else’s (Lecture, 5-21-15). Therefore joining groups or student organizations can show “Being Orange” and authentic to one’s self as long as the student has the awareness to understand not to sit idly by but to be active. And I don’t mean active in the physical way but rather in a humanistic way. You must be able to understand your values over those of social, economic, or political pressures for conformity (Lecture, 5-19-2015). By clearly defining your values and goals you can breakdown conformity while building yourself into a more authentic individual. In the words of Simone de Beauvoir “any man who has known real loves, real revolts, real desires, and real will knows quite well that he has no need of any outside guarantee to be sure of his goals; their certitude comes from his own drive.” (Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity).

To be an authentic anything, you first have to admit a few things to yourself. The first being that we as humans, are as Sartre explained it ” (Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism) Condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything that he does.” What this means in a nut shell is that we have the unfortunate task of creating everything for ourselves including, but definitely not limited to finding religion and values for yourself. Luckily, we Oregon State students used our freedom to choose this amazing university. Now we have the task of becoming true to our school, otherwise known as being authentic.

Authenticity is one of those terms that could be defined loosely to say what it means to you as an individual and still be correct. What I mean by this is that for me to be an authentic person I would just have to act weird and outgoing all the time. However, this is not what it would be something that an introvert would use to describe how they are as an authentic human being. In order to be an authentic OSU student, one would have to be a committed student, have fun, someone who is involved in the community at Oregon State, be involved in clubs or activities on campus, be a good sport, and above all be someone who is accepting of every person on and off of campus.

Something that is rather difficult in our community of Oregon State is not just following the crowd on fads or the “in” thing. “There is therefore no one who has more contempt for what it is to be human being than those who make it their profession to lead the crowd.” (Kierkegaard, The Crowd is Untruth) There is no other quote that could fit this idea better more multiple reasons. To follow the crowd means that you aren’t necessarily following your heart, therefore you aren’t being your authentic self. Another reason, is that the one who leads the crowd is expecting to others to follow, does this mean this leader doesn’t want others their authentic selves but rather a version of the leaders authentic self. Although there could be some instances in which the follower is authentic following a specific crowd in which they feel is what they truly believe in, yet they don’t feel comfortable as a leader. The greek system is a great example of this, it has a huge involvement here at OSU, and people seem to truly enjoy it, yet only a few are in charge of things in there greek house. Many of these people could be in the greek system because they truly feel like they belong there. In class we learned about how other philosophers described the crowd mentality. Heidegger called it “the they” and Nietzsche called it “the herd”. (lecture, 5/5/15)

To be a committed student here at Oregon State, you will have to stay first and foremost on top of your homework and classes. In order to do this authentically, you should not act in bad faith when doing your work and going to your classes. (Lecture, 6/2/15) We talked about a few examples of this exactly, a student had the dilemma of never doing their homework when they needed to, but rather they procrastinated until the last minute. This is a form of bad faith, in my opinion, of denying facticity. This is also a problem that so many students face on a daily basis. If we could just face that we don’t have forever to get an assignment done, we would be able to get it done as soon as possible and most likely do better on that assignment.

The last thing that I am going to touch on, is how we as Oregon State students need to have fun during our time here. This is up for interpretation in how one will have fun here at OSU. If the philosophers went to school here, this is how they would find fun on campus. Kierkegaard would be to find meaning from God, make “the leap of faith” and most likely join one of the many church groups here on campus (lecture, 4/23/15). Beauvoir would probably join a feminist group she believed that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” so she would try to diminish the idea of solid gender roles (lecture, 5/7/15). Now it is up to you to decide how you will have fun and be authentic to OSU. 

Submitted By:

Scott Lantz

Is it possible to truly live authentic to yourself? To be a functional citizen of society I believe that it is impossible to truly be authentic. This is because you cannot always do what you please, either because it is against the law or it is a social taboo, but I will save that for a different day. That being said, the question posted was what I thought it meant to authentically “Be Orange.” To do this to the best of ones ability, one must take in many different points of view. I believe that it is absurd to think that one can label 30,000 different individual people into the same category and tell them, “If you do not believe in these specific guidelines, you are not authentically ‘being orange’ and therefore you do not fit in.” To be authentic, or to be authentically “orange” could mean something to me, which would not be seen as authentic to someone else. Someone who has lived in Oregon their whole life and grew up around Oregon State University, would believe in a different meaning in how they would define authentically “Being Orange” than an international student who came to Oregon State solely for the education and knew nothing about the past, traditions, or social norms of the university. Would someone in this position, who does not know anything about Oregon State, be authentically orange?

This is why I believe that nobody can define what being authentically orange means except for what it means to yourself. I would define authenticity as a journey on becoming who you are. This means that if you live your whole life being unauthentic to yourself, you will never truly become oneself and Sartre would say that you are living in Bad Faith, by denying ones transcendence and denying facticity (Lecture 6/2/2015). An obstacle that makes it difficult to become an individual in not only my community but also the world is giving into social norms. This is something that happens very often and in most cases, nothing can be done about it. Say I want to be authentic to myself and not wear any clothes to class one day; because of the social norm (and the law) I will get punished for doing something that I feel is authentic to myself. This is one example of how social norms are an obstacle for one to become an individual. As humans, we are drawn into being with others and being like others, this is why we have social norms, so we fit in. This is what Nietzsche would call ‘The Heard’ (Lecture 4/28). If someone steps out of the heard, or steps out of the norm they would be seen as someone who has gone mad. Nietzsche said in The Gay Science, “To be oneself, to assess oneself according to one’s own weights and measures – that was contrary to the taste of time. The inclination to do so would be perceived as madness for being alone was bound up with every misery and every fear (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, pg. 131).” What he is saying here is that if you do something that people in your time are not used to they will see that as strange or that you are ‘mad’ when, in truth, you just want to be authentic to yourself and leave the heard.

What does it mean to be authentically “Be orange?” To me, it means to work hard. Do the job you are doing and do it right and the best you can do it. You might not always get recognized for your work but you’ll know that it’s the best you can do. Oregon State was founded upon these ideals when it was established as a land grant school back in 1868 for blue-collar families that wanted their children to have a chance to get some higher education. We are all condemned to be free says Sartre (Lecture 5/25/2015). It is what we do with our freedom that makes us the individuals that we are and this is what makes us authentic orange. This is what being authentic is, choosing to use our freedom in the ways that we want them or just giving into other people and living an unauthentic life. Just as Gregor lost his authenticity when he transformed in the metamorphosis into an insect (Lecture 6/4/2015), Beavers could lose their authenticity by not choosing to use their freedom the way they want to and giving into social norms and the heard.

Submitted by Ian Stidham

Born into a world already filled with ideas, it can be difficult appeal to the internal rather than the external for our beliefs, particularly about the self and our connection to – and transcendence of – the material world. This can lead one to feel as though they have been placed into existence free, yet bound by constraints they did not entirely choose. Essentially, this is the concept of Dasein as “thrown projection,” which Heidegger posits can lead us to lose ourselves in a pre-defined world filled with social roles and responsibilities (Lecture 04/16/2015). The environment, appearing to us as part of our reality, intrinsically contains others who become a part of this environment, and these faceless others form what Heidegger calls the “they” (Heidegger, Being and Time, 126). This contributes to the creation of the “they-self,” which finds its meaning within the context of the “they” and what “they” place value on (Heidegger, Being and Time, 127). Our participation in the world of the others leads us to become one of them, further supporting the domination of the “they.” We do as they do. The more we lose ourselves in societal roles and expectations, the more we forget we created them. We choose to give power to things by giving them a slice of our being, and in turn we are placed in a category. These categories take this power and then alter not only the perceptions others hold of us, but more importantly the perceptions we hold of ourselves. These categories limit us; I am not a political party, a job, a Vegan, or a musician. I am. We are.

Paramount to one’s adoption into Heidegger’s “they” is a phenomenon described by Nietzsche as “herd instinct,” wherein whatever benefits the many is morally right (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 130). At a physical institution, such as a university, the pressure of the herd instinct can be especially strong. It can become a sort of sickness (Lecture 05/05/2015), a plight where the authentic self is suppressed by the expectations of others and the value an individual places on those expectations. Authenticity is the reflection of a person’s truest self, the point where the self is conscious of its coexistence with forces and influences external to it. People see the ideas and beliefs of other people and institutions and choose to give more authority to those things than their own thoughts. The external appeal to authority is more often a passive process than an active one. After enough repetition, one’s worldview develops so that this externalization of power is the ‘natural’ state of being, at which point the person no longer necessarily makes the distinction between their own beliefs and those of others whom they are repeating. We sublimate the natural compulsions we feel and experiences we seek into socially acceptable activities rather than what we think is right, or what is most in accordance with our authentic selves. By being inauthentic at a university, one might pursue a career field of study that does not align with their authentic character. They may do things or participate in clubs and organizations that are out of accordance with the self, and rather finds meaning through the paradigms constructed by the Other. Authentic living requires a person to access this environment of the Other in ways which compliment their being, not their doing. Being “Orange” authentically means engaging with the Oregon State community in ways that are representative of one’s authentic self; finding your trip within the herd, rather than with the herd.