David Foster Wallace's commencement speech "This is Water" is a thought-provoking and poignant reflection on the human condition. In the speech, delivered at Kenyon College in 2005, Wallace addresses the graduates as they embark on the next phase of their lives and encourages them to consider the importance of awareness and choice in their daily lives.
At its core, "This is Water" is about the power of perspective. Wallace argues that the default setting of the human mind is to be self-centered and focused on immediate pleasure, but that we have the ability to choose a different perspective. By consciously choosing to focus on the experiences and perspectives of others, we can move beyond our own narrow view of the world and cultivate a deeper understanding and empathy for others.
Wallace uses the metaphor of fish in a fish tank to illustrate this point. The fish are so used to the water in their tank that they don't even realize it's there, just as we humans often take the world around us for granted. But, just as a person outside the tank can see the water and the fish in it more clearly, we have the ability to step back and see the world from a different perspective.
This message is especially relevant in today's world, where we are constantly bombarded with distractions and temptations that can distract us from the deeper meaning and purpose of our lives. By choosing to focus on others and cultivate a sense of compassion and empathy, we can find a sense of purpose and fulfillment that goes beyond our own self-centered desires.
Overall, "This is Water" is a powerful reminder of the importance of perspective and choice in our lives. By cultivating a sense of awareness and empathy, we can move beyond our own narrow view of the world and find a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.
This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (Transcript + Audio)
. Static and dynamic content editing A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. Retrieved March 23, 2017. If I choose to think this way in a store and on the freeway, fine. People who can adjust their natural default setting this way are often described as being "well-adjusted," which I suggest to you is not an accidental term. And look at how deeply and personally unfair this is. The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.
"This is Water" by David Foster Wallace speech transcript
Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime. As an eighteen year old that hasnt had enough experiences to determine what I want to do with my future, a liberal arts education is an excellent way to find myself and my passion while still allowing me to advance in my pursuit of knowledge. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, clichés, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. One of the guys is religious, the other is an atheist, and the two are arguing about the existence of God with that special intensity that comes after about the fourth beer.
This Is Water David Foster Wallace
To be just a little less arrogant. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. The nonreligious guy is so totally certain in his dismissal of the possibility that the passing Eskimos had anything to do with his prayer for help. On one level, we all know this stuff already. Retrieved April 2, 2012. If there is one piece of writing that has had the greatest impact on how I think about the world and my experience in it, it is this speech.
This Is Water
The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about. This is also the only public speech David Foster Wallace ever gave outlining his outlook on life. There is no such thing as not worshipping. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. Meaning, where they come from INSIDE the two guys. Retrieved February 21, 2016. This, I submit, is the freedom of a real education, of learning how to be well-adjusted.
David Foster Wallace
But you can't take your frustration out on the frantic lady working the register, who is overworked at a job whose daily tedium and meaninglessness surpasses the imagination of any of us here at a prestigious college. But I'm going to posit to you that the liberal arts cliché turns out not to be insulting at all, because the really significant education in thinking that we're supposed to get in a place like this isn't really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about. And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. One of the guys is religious, the other is an atheist, and the two are arguing about the existence of God with that special intensity that comes after about the fourth beer. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving.
