Authentic Orange

Submitted by Nikki Rieken

The idea of  authenticity and “Be Orange” is to be true to yourself, don’t give into peer pressure, and find others who share your passion for life. The idea of Causa sui to the second power (Lecture 04/09/15) is having a variety of possibilities to choose what you will be and college is the time to utilize that freedom. Likewise, learning what you stand for and what makes you happy in life is the simple view of the Kierkegaard’s three stages of existence. The concept of authenticity is being genuine and true to oneself in both a philosophical standpoint and a way of approaching obstacles in life. Being authentic is simply being who you really are, which can be extremely difficult when it comes to trying not to conform to influential individuals in ones life. College is normally a time to find yourself, what you stand for, and what you believe in. It’s also a time to find individuals that share your same passion and make lasting friendships.

Step One: Be true to yourself; College is a time to learn what you believe in, what you stand up for, and experiencing Kierkegaard’s three stages of existence (Lecture 04/23/15). Not only do you learn the components of authenticity, transcendence, and freedom, also known as bad faith and what it is composed of (Lecture 05/28/15), through these stages but you also learn what the meaning of life means to you. There is no one meaning of life, it’s different for every individual and the lesson you take away from experiencing each phase is also different for everyone. Understanding your point of view on what your desires are, good vs. bad, and the concept of the leap of faith are all important stages to go through to learn who you are. Through each phase you learn, grow, and alter your behavior to build off of each layer obtaining experience that will help you find what life means to you and who you believe to be. I find myself in the ethical sphere; making decisions in regards to good and bad on a daily basis just like every college student out there. Especially since college is the first time many people leave home and have to learn how to make their own choices. I was a person that was very influenced by peers, parents, and family members when I was growing up and was never assertive when it came to what I wanted or believed in. Now, after deciding to pick up my life and transfer to Oregon State University I’ve learned to chase after what I want and stand up for what I believe in even if it’s not what my close friends, parents, or majority of individuals stand for.

Step Two: Don’t give in to peer pressure; The largest obstacle I face at OSU is constant peer pressure. But, having the mentality to step back and think about decisions I make prior to making them has allowed myself to avoid making a decision based off of social norms or peer pressure. It’s easy to decide to skip a class or homework to go out with friends, especially when they don’t have any responsibilities to attend to or are avoiding their work too. If I were to avoid my responsibilities I wouldn’t be abiding by my authentic self and in turn would be conforming to Nietzsche concept of “The Herd”. “But it is the crowd which has power, influence, reputation, and domination… which tyrannically overlooks the single individual as the weak and powerless one…” (Kierkegaard “That Crowd is Untruth” pg. 6) Being manipulated by the majority rule of the group would cause myself to not only be inauthentic but also conform to the idea of mindless and thoughtlessly following the group. Peer pressure is a very real concept that causes many individuals to be inauthentic to themselves because they don’t want to go against the grain of the group.

Step Three: Find people who share your passion for life; Everyone has the right to their opinion and humanism (Lecture 05/07/15) is the individual focused philosophy that allows one to pursue their identity and transcendence. Building relationships with individuals who have your same point of view, ideas, and thoughts represent the utilization of one’s freedom. Likewise, this is a representation of ones transcendence and not putting on a metaphorical ‘mask’ to fit into the crowd. When you be true to yourself and don’t give into peer pressure, the third step of finding others like yourself will ensue on it’s own. Living a life with a perspective of reaching optimal authenticity, with others who wish to do the same, is a simple but amazing way to do it. You’ll gain a support system like no other with individuals who wish to accomplish everything you do in life.

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).

Submitted By Sean Prior

Be yourself. Words I have heard many times from my mother growing up. As a kid you don’t think much more into that thought. As a junior in college I can think a little deeper now. It brings up a question, who is myself? What would Sean Prior do? How does one be authentic? When in the situation, do I do what my mom said I should do, or do I make my own judgement call and find out for myself. There is a moment of ambiguity. Do I act upon how I was told to handle a situation and let that define me? I think I’m going to experiment and decide what I would do after I’ve a trial run. I think that to be an authentic OSU student is to guide your choices and invest your time based on your wants with input from many un-invested guides. Here are my four tips how to live authentically

Human Reality is Ontologically Ambiguous (PP 4-9-15, 17/22).  Based on Sartre’s reading we have two thoughts. One is Being-in-itself, which is the facticity of the situation. And Being –for-itself is the transcendence of the situation. The facticity is why you are in college and how you got here. Tip #1 Do what you enjoy doing, but in some sense you must conform to the school standards. I’ll use myself as an example. I’m here because neither of my parents went to college so I grew up with the expectation of going to college because based on their life experience it was needed to make more money. Now who was I to say no to this as a naïve high schooler?  Once I got here I was free from them. Now everything was my choice, what to study, when to go to bed, what to do all night. My freedom and consciousness said to have fun and ignore responsibility. But the facticity of the situation was that I had committed to paying lots of money and going to class. You can’t stay in school and be free if you aren’t passing classes. Sartre compares us to Ontological Centaurs (pp 4-9-15 19/22.) Being in situation, to be successful you must manage your Transcendence with your Facticity and balance them so that you stay happy but also keep afloat among school expectations.

Tip #2 Find friends that let you be you, and sometimes doing something you want to do, alone, is more satisfying than pretending to like something. “Do what you must, come what may.” (The Ethics of Ambiguity, Simone de Beauvoir 1947.)  I like this because it is impossible to find someone who is going to do life exactly like you. If you want to sleep all day spend the wee hours of the morning at the library and drink the weekend away. Go for it. You are sure to meet people along the way. Compartmentalize your friend groups and know who to call to do what.

Tip #3 Be the Hero of your own Story and achieve your goals. We recall the myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. Sisyphus is condemned to rolling a rock up the mountain only to have it roll back down. But see him as the Absurd Hero. He reaches his goal every day. Can you say that about yourself? It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it.

Tip #4 Do everything with an intention of bringing happiness. No one likes to be sad, angry, or upset. I can honestly say I don’t. Think about Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence (pp 6-2-15 12/17.) If you knew you had to live your life out again numerous times without change how would you live it, knowing that you are writing the script as you read this? Would you change your ways and be more optimistic and worry less. I think so. In the You tube series 8-bit titled Time is a Flat Circle? (Nietzsche + Mega Man) Nietzsche’s schemed up a person who is strong enough to deal with the hardships and remain with a positive outlook on life. One who can do this is called an Ubermensch. That is what you must aspire to.

My final words are use these tips or not, I don’t care, it really doesn’t affect me, but please be yourself.