Authentic Orange

Submitted by Derek Jackson

To answer the question of what it means for someone to authentically “Be Orange”, a declaration of what it means to be orange is required first. In this response, being orange will mean to be a part of the community at Oregon State University. What this entails is that you are either a student or faculty member at this school, and therein are part of the community either by attending classes, teaching a class, work in one of the buildings, or take part in extracurricular clubs or activities. Whenever people come together as a group, problems can occur. Since some would argue that it would be impossible for the whole school to come together and get along, the community of Oregon State consists of a bunch of smaller communities. Friedrich Nietzsche defines a group of people to be a herd. The herds found in the greater community can have different moralities, in the sense that one herd will act differently than another in a given situation. Now as an individual of a herd, one is “led to be functions of the herd and to attribute value to themselves merely as functions” (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, pg. 130). But when an individual does so, their minds are now focused on the well-being of the herd. This now becomes a conflict with their authenticity. To live an authentic life is to live true to yourself. What this means is that your everyday actions do not result in bad faith. Bad faith is a way of denying the human situation (Lecture, 5/26/15); we are denying a part of our ontological centaur. Jean Paul Sartre defines the ontological centaur as two parts coinciding. One part is being-in-itself, and the other is being-for-itself (Lecture, 4/9/15). Being-in-itself relates to the human facticity, or the given in life, where being-for-itself relates to the human transcendence, which gives us humans the freedom and consciousness that we have. So in short, to be authentic with yourself is to be and act how you want to, and not how others want you to. The thing is however, we as humans want to fit in and be liked by our peers. This is the conflict that comes up in community. Nietzsche supports this when saying, “in many people I see an excessively forceful and pleasurable wish to be a function; they have the finest scent for all those positions where precisely they can be a function, and that is where they rush to” (Nietzsche, The Gay Science, pg. 131). So what then is the trick to still get along in a community and still be authentic with yourself? The first step is to be true to yourself by being and acting as who you want to be. However, the solution is not found in just one person. It requires for everyone to accept their fellow peers as their authentic self. I am not saying everyone has to accept everyone, although that would be ideal. But that is why there are different groups found at Oregon State University. Finally, to answer the question of what it means for someone to authentically “Be Orange”, all you must do is be authentic with yourself, and allow other people to be authentic with themselves.