`` This Is Water `` By David Foster Wallace

This is Water, was a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005. Ever since this speech has been given it has become well known. Because of the length, it can be hard to read through the speech while trying to understand the whole idea of it. Wallace fills the speech with stories, examples, and vivid ideas while trying to convince these college graduates how to view life in a positive perspective. While this speech is packed full of ideas he manages to give it in a way outside of the norm for commencement speeches. Yet still gets all the information to the graduates and anyone else who listens to it.

In a way being selfish is what got humans where they are today.The evolution of humans required competition,and aggressive selfishness. We were forced to be selfish and watch our own back, to always put ourselves first in bad situations. This reaction to put ourselves first is natural, it’s in our blood. However, is the very thing that made us so successful as a species the one thing that so easily tears us apart? As humans we have an incredible capacity to dehumanize others to protect our own self interest.

Wallace returns to his earlier point regarding the purpose of a liberal arts education, reiterating that teaching someone how to think is in fact more about teaching them to reject their own arrogance and to be aware of their own biases. He says that one example of the wrongness of our default train of thought is that we tend to automatically think of ourselves as the center of the universe. Continuing with his tactic of defying the graduates’ expectations, he assures them that he is not bringing this up to lecture them about virtue. He’s simply pointing out that it is natural to see the world through a “lens of self” (9), and that seeing past that lens requires a conscious

Through proving that we are not always correct, and reminding the audience that different people can have different views of reality, Wallace is able to use logical reasoning to show that humans have the ability to change their perspectives.

2. What does Wallace mean when he refers to the “natural, hard-wired default setting” of himself and others (paragraph 3)? To what extent do you think that most of us are “deeply and literally self-centered”?

Selfishness is being concerned for oneself or one’s advantage and welfare regardless of others. Selfness is demonstrated when a person leaves and does not tell anyone where they are going. In Into the Wild Jon Krakauer tells the story of Chris McCandless’s selfish quest for “ultimate Freedom”. Chris is selfish because he takes his privileged life for granted. Then, Chris decides to leave and he totally ignores and blocks out his family. Finally Chris builds relationships with people, then leaves when they are no longer needed. Chris taking his life for granted, his ignorance and the fact that he is an absentee is why Chris McCandless’s quest for “ultimate freedom” is selfish.

Selfishness is a disease of the soul that every person experiences several times throughout their life. To say that selfishness has never been experienced would be hypocrisy. To say that selfishness is a beneficial trait would be erroneous. Although as humans we lie to ourselves, there is no question that selfishness can make any person a fool. Being selfish consumes us and changes us into someone we are not. Whether it leads to getting people killed, losing love, or abolishing families, selfishness always leads to destruction.

In regards to how to live life, Wallace illustrates that we should not live life by default and be aware of our surroundings. For instance, he states that if “you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying or miserable.” To explain, our perception of life cannot continuously be through rose-colored glasses even though there a few occurrences that we are tempted to in order to evade the unforgiving reality and the pessimism accompanied by it. What Wallace is attempting to gage is that sometimes, the only option we have is to truly face reality and be aware of it rather than be blinded by blissful ignorance projected to divert from our suffering. Furthermore, sometimes we need to take the initiative to question our motives and the norms of society, and to hone in on our engagements that affect other for our progression. To relate this to Naikan, introspection towards our memories, even the grim ones, aids us in reforming ourselves to consider what suffering we have initiated towards others as well as to inquire what we have certainly completed for others. If these actions caused sufferings to another person(s), we must accept our wrongdoing, learn from it, and

Wallace establishes a humorous tone in the first section to convey his argument. “There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys, how's the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’” (233) This anecdote introduces the fact the many people don’t understand what is going on around them and why Wallace believes it is important to be conscious of what is happening around you. “This is not a matter of virtue- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.” (233) Wallace argues that it is hard to get into a state of awareness because humans have their “hard-wired default-setting”. People need to get out of their own self-centered habits and see things in a different point of view. By using a humorous tone, Wallace can effectively get people on his side of the argument.

Wallace then discussed that the most important way to fight the urge of staying in their natural default-setting is to think. Wallace tried to persuade the audience by stressing the importance of exercising control over what that person thinks. Wallace felt it was very important to get the point across that people

A short parable comprises the opening paragraph of Wallace’s speech. In this, there are two fish swimming along when they pass an older fish, headed in the opposite direction, that asks them how the water is. The two fish continue along for a bit before one asks the other “what the hell is water?” This serves as an extended metaphor used by Wallace to demonstrate his main argument for awareness in life. Just as the fish do not consider their surroundings, people more often than not fail to consider

One cannot truly change the world around without first mastering the art of looking beyond oneself and into the outside world. This idea of looking beyond oneself has been the focus of ancient and modern philosophers throughout the world. In “The Is Water”(2005), a commencement address, David Foster Wallace, a modern day philosopher, implies that people generally view the world from a selfish perspective and elaborates on how the world should work to reverse its self-centered ways. Wallace reveals his topic through a series of anecdotes, each highlighting a different way we are focused on ourselves and then providing a way to view each situation from a different perspective. Wallace’s purpose is to point out the faults in thinking only for

David Wallace's speech is organized to enable the listener, or reader, to see the reality of adulthood and then the power we have to choose whether or not we live a mindful, empathetic, truly conscious life. Wallace's tone throughout the speech is very friendly, and he uses casual language to make this audience feel comfortable. He uses metaphors about fish in water to illustrate the illusion of self. Another about Eskimos to show how arrogant people can be. He then goes into how secretly self-centered we all are, how we think we are the "center of the universe", because everything we experience is from our perspective like how "Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real"(Wallace, 2005). Moreover, Wallace goes into the power of worship, and the deadening effect of daily routine.

Selfish is defined as looking after one’s own desires, concerned with your own interests, needs and wishes while ignoring those of others (Encarta Dictionary).

Most of us assume that some selfishness is healthy, but "too much" selfishness will lead to loneliness and despair. This idea rests on an incorrect definition of selfishness. Selfishness means acting in one's rational self-interest. By " rational" I mean that one can logically prove that an action is in one's self-interest—in the long run as well as the short run.