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how to be authentic from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Nietzsche says “No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, and philologist

and is considered as one of the greatest and most unusual thinkers of all time.

He was one of the precursors of existentialism.

Existentialism is more a cultural movement rather than a philosophical one, which considers

that freedom is at the core of human existence, all human values should be based on it and,

moreover, existentialism affirms “the categorical moral imperative of authenticity”.

In line with the theory of existentialism, Nietzsche talked about the importance of having

an authentic life.

In existentialism, authenticity is the degree to which a person's actions are in line with

their beliefs and desires, despite the pressure from society to behave in one way or another.

Nietzsche emphasized having the courage to be authentic and to fight against the tyranny

of popular beliefs.

He wrote several books, including “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, “Beyond Good and Evil”,

“The Birth of Tragedy”, and “The Twilight of the Idols”.

His teachings have shaped the lives of many people; from psychologists to poets, dancers

to social revolutionaries.

So to understand how his ideas can help you in your life, here are 7 ways we can learn

to be authentic from the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.

1.

Accept yourself as a totality In the words of Nietzsche: “It is a myth

to believe that we will find our authentic self after we have left behind or forgotten

one thing or another . . . To make ourselves, to shape a form from various elements – that

is the task!

The task of a sculptor!

Of a productive human being!”

One of the recurrent themes in the philosophy of Nietzsche is the idea of becoming who we

are.

By this process, we do not build our character by trying to copy role models as per society’s

standards in the attempt to become perfect, but rather we take everything into account,

all the parts of ourselves, the good and the bad.

We sculpt ourselves into something that we choose, using all sides of our personality,

ignoring none.

This process requires a deep acceptance of any negative traits of ourselves, we need

to stop judging our characteristics, no matter how ugly they are.

We have to find strength in weakness, beauty in the ugly.

There is a saying that the secret of success is to make strengths out of our weaknesses

and this saying can be considered in line with Nietzschean philosophy.

For example, consider that you are not good at confronting others, defending your rights

or verbally expressing your rejection of something.

Let’s say your neighbour has the habit of parking his car in front of your house, blocking

your entrance.

Instead of feeling sorry for yourself that you do not have the courage to confront your

neighbour and trying to ignore the subject, pretending that it does not bother you, or,

worse, forcing yourself to confront the neighbour and thereby putting yourself in a bigger stress,

you should start accepting this trait of your personality and make it a strength.

Instead of saying “I am not good at confrontation”, try saying “I am good at avoiding confrontation”.

In this way, you remain authentic to yourself, you accept the traits of your personality

even when they are not desirable.

You should find ways to solve your problems and remain authentic to yourself at the same

time.

You can write a very polite letter to your neighbour, and put it in his mailbox.

In this letter, you can write that you are sorry for disturbing him with your request,

but you have difficulty entering and exiting your house because of his car and you can

offer him your help to find a better parking solution.

This way, you remain authentic to yourself and you will have created an opportunity to

solve your problem by solving his problem.

2.

Follow your own path According to Nietzsche: “There is one path

in the world that none can walk but you.

Where does it lead?

Don’t ask, walk!”

Nietzsche believed that embracing difficulties is essential in having a fulfilling life,

and although the journey to self-discovery is one of the most difficult ones, it is also

the most rewarding.

Although this journey is very difficult, we need to have the courage to take it and stop

second guessing.

Nietzsche said we have an inner voice that we should listen to, a voice that guides us

on this journey and that we have a duty to “become who we are.”

There is nobody else who can help us walk this path, it is only this inner voice we

should follow and we need to stop questioning it.

Most people do not have concrete goals in life, they imitate what others do like finding

a good job, marrying someone, having children, buying a house, buying a car and so on.

To live an authentic life, it is important to make a habit of listening to your inner

voice, no matter how big the contradiction between the path you are currently following

and the direction the inner voice is pointing.

For example, if you are a construction engineer, but you know inside yourself that you have

great potential to develop your artistic skills in painting, you should start listening to

this inner voice more.

You might start by buying the necessary materials and spending an hour or two every day practicing

every day.

Follow videos or take a class in painting, try to get them displayed in local exhibitions,

sell prints online and so on.

Do everything possible to follow your inner voice when it tries to tell you what your

true calling is in life.

3.

Accept that you are different To quote Nietzsche: “And those who were

seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

Nietzsche believed that there is no right way to live your life, that everything which

is authentic is beyond good and evil, that we do not have an objective right to judge

other people’s actions as good or bad.

Other people can be quite different from ourselves but, even if we cannot “hear their music”,

we should not judge them.

We do not have any objective right to judge people for who they are, whether that’s

a different sexual orientation, unusual fashion sense, annoying habits, or a different political

opinion.

Just because we do not understand these orientations and behaviors, we do not have the right to

declare them ‘bad’ or ‘wrong'.

Equally, if we are the ones who are very different from others, we should ignore what others

think of us.

They have no right to call us whatever they like just because they don’t understand

us.

To live an authentic life, we need to live free from the judgments of others, and in

doing so, let others live freely as well.

Nietzsche didn’t have a glorious life, he was rarely praised for his philosophical work

during his lifetime.

He never sought money and fame, he chose to be authentic and write in an honest way, in

line with his true philosophy.

While Nietzsche focused on authenticity, he could see others desperately running for trophies

and plaudits, their main goal in life to shine in front of others and assert their superiority.

One example Nietzsche experienced during his life was his good friend and famous composer

Richard Wagner.

They met frequently; Nietzsche admired the musical geniality of Wagner, and Wagner admired

the intelligence and artistic skills of Nietzsche.

However, because of an event in Bayreuth, Germany, Nietzsche decided to leave Wagner

and his circle, disgusted by the dramatic style he used in making music to gain popularity.

Nietzsche considered that Wagner started to compose music for the masses, to make an impression

on them, leading him towards higher peaks of success because of that inauthentic way

of composing music.

Nietzsche expressed his disgust towards the kind of people who seek praise at the expense

of authenticity.

Such people, as Richard Wagner, are not following their own path, they are following somebody

else’s path, in Wagner’s case, “the masses”.

Following what is popular is living against yourself, especially when there is a big difference

between who you really are and society’s standards.

If you are homosexual for example and you are raised in a deeply religious family who

rejects this, you need to try to stop caring about what they think of you.

They simply cannot “hear your music”, they cannot understand you, and so to be authentic

to yourself you need to choose ‘you’ over ‘them’.

There is no point in trying to fit in with a group which does not understand you.

You must accept that you are different and you should not worry what those people say

about you.

4.

Obey only yourself Nietzsche tells us: “He who obeys, does

not listen to himself!”

In Nietzsche’s view, we need to become our own masters, to have enough willpower to overcome

temptations, urges, obsessions, because otherwise we will be commanded.

Nietzsche considered that there are two fundamental types of morality: "master morality" and "slave

morality".

Master morality values pride and power and slave morality values kindness, empathy, and

sympathy.

Although slave morality seems to be a more humanistic one and more embraced nowadays,

Nietzsche warned that this kind of morality can make us obey other people more easily,

will make us forget our own aspirations and will prevent us from acting in an authentic

way.

If we become too empathetic towards others, there is the danger that we will meet those

who will take advantage of that empathy.

Therefore, for the sake of our own psychological health, it is better to balance empathy with

self-confidence and self-respect.

For example, if somebody close to you, a spouse or a sibling is taking advantage of your good

nature and coercing you to do things you would not normally do such as giving up some of

your hobbies to help them in some business venture, or driving them to the airport instead

of going to an important meeting for your career and so on, you need to have the courage

to tell them no.

If you obey others, no matter how close to you they are, it means you do not nourish

yourself enough, you do not listen to your needs and desires and you will end up living

a life without authenticity, controlled by the interests of others.

5.

Do not be ashamed Nietzsche asks us: “What is the seal of

liberation?

Not to be ashamed in front of oneself.”

For Nietzsche, feeling shame is like saying no to life.

Someone who is ashamed of himself will not take the risk to do anything bold for fear

of further embarrassment.

People who are prone to shame are easily controlled, as the shamers will take advantage to keep

the shamed in their place.

Nietzsche considered that religion makes people feel ashamed of themselves on purpose.

Shame that goes beyond outward actions, down to one’s very thoughts, using so-called

‘sins’, to control their followers.

Nietzsche considered this way of thinking to be inhumane, as when you no longer feel

ashamed of yourself, it means you accept your entire being: You are living authentically

and free.

For example, imagine you are a financial accountant in a company and you made a huge mistake losing

your company tens of thousands of dollars and your boss shamed you in front of everybody.

Of course you feel terrible at first, but you should not give up your struggle to always

improve, day by day, expanding your skillset and trying to win back the confidence of other

people in you.

To do so, you need first to accept that you made a bad call and take steps to mitigate

any chance of you repeating the mistake in future.

But more importantly, do not take the criticism your boss gave you personally.

There is no reason to feel ashamed, all humans make mistakes.

This mistake does not represent you as long as you continue improving yourself and learning

from it.

6.

Forgive yourself Nietzsche teaches us to: “Forgive yourself

your own self.

You have it in your power to merge everything you have lived through- false starts, errors,

delusions, passions, your loves and your hopes- into your goal, with nothing left over.”

Although forgiveness seems to be a Christian concept, for Nietzsche, the self-proclaimed

Antichrist, forgiveness is important too, especially forgiving oneself.

Our life principles and attitudes will change in time and it is important to be kind to

the younger versions of ourselves.

We all make mistakes and even if we made big mistakes in the past, we need to understand

that we didn’t know at that time what we know today.

Sometimes, we will need to become harsh with ideas and systems that we once loved in the

past, like Nietzsche did with Christianity.

He was a student of theology before being a student of philology, but he was able to

forgive his younger self because he didn’t know what his older-self knew about the roots

of Christianity, he was just fascinated by its shiny surface.

We should forgive ourselves for the mistakes we have made in the past and this forgiveness

starts with learning to be honest with ourselves, to recognize the journey we have followed,

how we have transformed, and what we have learned along the way.

For example, if you used to cheat on your partners in previous relationships, but now

know in your heart that you have truly changed, you have learned to respect people and you

are trying to build a life with someone special to you, you should forgive yourself for the

past mistakes.

Maybe you were not mature enough that time, you did what you saw those around you and

in the media were doing, you chose temporary gratification over honouring the commitment

you made by agreeing to enter into a relationship in the first place.

Forgive yourself because you didn’t know better that time and acknowledge the changes

you went through.

7.

Live dangerously In our final quote for this video, Nietzsche

says: “For believe me! — the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness

and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously!

” Although Nietzsche’s life was not particularly

dangerous, it involved certain risks.

He put his career in jeopardy by leaving the University of Basel where he had a respectable

position of Professor.

He then started to write books, attacking Christianity, although he came from a very

Christian family - his father was a priest - and he also distanced himself from past

friends like Richard Wagner when he could no longer like his ideas and music.

Nietzsche understood very well that in order to remain authentic he had to follow a dangerous

path with an insecure income and few relationships.

He emphasized the importance of not getting stuck into a pattern, into a job position,

no matter how respectable it is, he understood it is important to experiment with life in

order to find what works for you.

It does not matter how many people will be beside you in the end, what matters is to

be yourself, to be authentic and to never abandon who you are.

To implement this teaching in our life, we need to stop trying to fit into social groups

to gain advantages.

If we don’t then we won’t live an authentic life, we will always copy somebody else and

adopt ideas and concepts which we might not even agree with at a deep level.

For example, if you are a part of a political party and the leader does something you consider

wrong, you should leave said party even if you lose all the financial and political privileges

associated with it.

The principles you value are a part of yourself, the principles you value are a part of your

true nature, and you should not abandon who you are just to stay in-line with the people

around you.

It is worthy to risk your income and position to preserve the authenticity of who you are.

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