Authentic Orange

Submitted by Steven Swanson

Authenticity. Many people think that they have it, but only a few really do. To be authentic is to be your true self and not what others want you to be. It’s a journey from leaving (as philosopher Nietzsche call it) the herd and entering a state of true individualism. It’s anything but an easy journey though. It can be very challenging and full of doubt and troubles. But it is a possible transition that can be made with enough determination and enough will power.

As College students, we are told to pick majors that will ultimately make us successful in our future lives. That money and success are the keys to happiness. As my philosophy class discussed there is a benchmark image of a successful person. They wear a nice suit, have a  clean professional haircut, and look almost as if they are the CEO of a company (lecture 5/28/15). That’s what the media and society want us to believe in college so that we will become that. But what if that’s not how you want your life to end up?

Being authentic with ourselves in college is a huge part of deciding the outcome of our own futures. As philosopher Simone Beauvoir said “To re-establish man at the heart of his destiny…He bears the responsibility for a world which is not the work of a strange power, but of himself, where his defeats are inscribed, and his victories as well” (The Ethics of Ambiguity: Ambiguity and Freedom). In college you can choose what to study. You may fail a class and then you may get an “A” another. That’s all part of finding what you truly want to do. Finding the classes that interest you and make you want to continue learning the information that they have to offer. In order to reshape your destiny from what society says you should become, you need to know what you want to become. You should decide your own future.

With any kind of life journey, there will be obstacles to overcome. ONe of which, and probably the largest one, will be your own parents. Almost all parents want their children to be happy. They also want their children to have stable future jobs and be able to take care of themselves when they get older. If you were to go and say to your parents that you want to persue your dream of a major in liberal arts (which according to the website TheSimpleDollar.com is one of the ten least successful majors to graduate with) they may go against you. This is a pivotal moment of freedom and authenticity. You can make the choice to side with your parents, and live in bad faith (Lecture 5/26/15)  by choosing to go against your true wants and desires, or you can be authentic and pursue what makes you happy. You have the freedom to make either choice, it all depends on how you want to live your life.

It’s very important that you are completely honest with yourself during the transitioning of becoming authentic. To not live in bad faith by denying your transcendence as a student (Lecture 6/2/15) and telling yourself that there is no way that you can change. Because you can. You can be authentic. Simone Beauvoir has another quote that states “…the fact remains that we are absolutely free today if we choose to will our existence in its finiteness, a finiteness which is open on the infinite” (The Ethics of Ambiguity). You have the power to be what you want to be. To form your destiny to how you want it to be shaped. The possibilities are endless. It’s all in how you choose the events that precede the outcome. So don’t be a sheep in a herd, conforming to how society wants you to end up. Be your authentic self and live your life how you want it to be lived.