David Foster Wallace’s This Is Water Commencement Speech

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace: Quick Answer

• “This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace is a commencement speech that challenges automatic, self-centered thinking and advocates for conscious awareness.
• It argues that true freedom lies in choosing what to think about, particularly in the face of life’s mundane frustrations.
• The core message emphasizes the importance of empathy and actively selecting one’s perspective.

This Is Water by David Foster Wallace: Who This Is For

• Individuals seeking to re-evaluate their daily perspectives and challenge ingrained assumptions.
• Readers interested in philosophical reflections on consciousness, choice, and the nature of living a meaningful life.

What to Check First

• The Central Metaphor: Understand that “water” represents the obvious, unexamined context of our daily lives, much like a fish is unaware of the water it swims in.
• The “Default Setting”: Recognize this as the ego-centric perspective that automatically prioritizes one’s own needs and experiences.
• The Nature of Choice: Grasp that the speech advocates for consciously choosing one’s thoughts and interpretations, rather than passively accepting the default.
• The Mundane Realities: Note that Wallace applies his message to everyday situations, such as traffic or grocery shopping, to illustrate its practical relevance.

Step-by-Step Plan to Engage with This Is Water

1. Read the Speech Actively: Read the text of “This Is Water” with a focus on identifying Wallace’s core arguments. Action: Highlight sentences that describe the challenges of adult life and the automatic mental responses to them. What to look for: Phrases that illustrate the “default setting” in action. Mistake to avoid: Reading passively without critically engaging with the ideas.

2. Analyze the “Water” Metaphor: Understand how the fish’s unawareness of water serves as an analogy for human unawareness of their own operating systems. Action: Consider what constitutes the “water” in your own daily life. What to look for: The unquestioned aspects of your routine, environment, and thought patterns. Mistake to avoid: Dismissing the metaphor as purely literary and failing to see its practical application to awareness.

3. Identify Examples of the “Default Setting”: Pinpoint specific scenarios Wallace uses to illustrate self-centered thinking. Action: List at least three examples, such as dealing with traffic or perceived annoyances from others. What to look for: Situations where characters react out of automatic self-interest. Mistake to avoid: Assuming these examples are only applicable to others and not reflecting on your own tendencies.

For a concise overview of David Foster Wallace’s profound commencement speech, consider picking up a copy of ‘This Is Water.’ It’s a powerful exploration of conscious awareness and choosing your perspective.

This Is Water: The Original David Foster Wallace Recording: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

• Audible Audiobook
• David Foster Wallace (Author) - David Foster Wallace (Narrator)
• English (Publication Language)
• 05/20/2010 (Publication Date) - Little, Brown & Company (Publisher)

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4. Explore the Concept of “Choosing What to Think”: Grasp Wallace’s argument that freedom comes from consciously selecting one’s thoughts and interpretations. Action: Reflect on a recent frustrating experience. What to look for: Moments where you could have chosen a different, more deliberate interpretation. Mistake to avoid: Believing this choice is easy or effortless; recognize it as a continuous practice.

5. Examine the Role of Empathy: Recognize how choosing to think differently often involves extending empathy to others. Action: Consider how seeing a situation from another person’s perspective might alter your reaction. What to look for: Scenarios where a seemingly negative action by another might have an understandable, albeit unstated, reason. Mistake to avoid: Equating empathy with agreement; it is about understanding, not necessarily condoning.

6. Integrate the Message into Adult Life: Understand that the speech is framed within the realities of adult responsibilities and their potential to reinforce the default setting. Action: Intentionally practice awareness for one full day, noting moments where you revert to the default and consciously choose otherwise. What to look for: Subtle shifts in your internal dialogue and external reactions. Mistake to avoid: Expecting immediate, dramatic transformation; this is an ongoing practice.

Common Mistakes When Engaging with This Is Water

• Mistake: Treating the speech as a purely academic or philosophical exercise.
• Why it matters: This overlooks its practical, actionable advice for daily living and conscious self-management.
• Fix: Focus on the personal implications and how to apply the principles to your own routine interactions and internal monologue.

• Mistake: Believing that “choosing what to think” is a simple, one-time decision.
• Why it matters: This understates the ingrained nature of automatic, ego-centric thought patterns and the effort required to shift them.
• Fix: Recognize it as an ongoing practice requiring constant vigilance, practice, and self-correction.

• Mistake: Misinterpreting the “water” metaphor as a literal environmental issue.
• Why it matters: The metaphor is about perception and awareness of our existential context, not physical surroundings.
• Fix: Understand “water” as the unexamined, pervasive environment of consciousness and daily routine that shapes our experience.

• Mistake: Feeling overwhelmed or discouraged by the perceived difficulty of achieving conscious awareness.
• Why it matters: This can lead to abandoning the effort before its benefits are realized, reinforcing the default setting of resignation.
• Fix: Acknowledge that it is a challenging practice, but emphasize that even small, consistent efforts yield significant improvements in daily experience.

Expert Tips for Applying “This Is Water”

• Tip: Practice conscious awareness during mundane tasks.
• Actionable Step: During your commute or while doing chores, consciously observe your thoughts and emotions without judgment. Identify moments when you revert to automatic, self-centered reactions.
• Common Mistake to Avoid: Expecting to immediately eliminate negative thoughts; the goal is observation and choice, not suppression.

• Tip: Actively choose empathy in frustrating interactions.
• Actionable Step: When encountering someone you perceive as difficult, pause and consider potential reasons for their behavior beyond your own immediate irritation.
• Common Mistake to Avoid: Justifying your own negative reactions by finding fault with others; empathy is about understanding, not necessarily agreement or excusing harmful actions.

• Tip: Reframe perceived inconveniences as opportunities for choice.
• Actionable Step: When faced with a delay or annoyance (e.g., a long line), consciously remind yourself that you have the freedom to choose how you frame this experience and what you focus your attention on.
• Common Mistake to Avoid: Falling back into habitual complaining or resentment; actively redirect your mental energy towards a more constructive or neutral perspective.

Understanding the “This Is Water” Commencement Speech

David Foster Wallace’s 2005 Kenyon College commencement address, later published as “This Is Water,” is a profound exploration of consciousness, choice, and the challenges of living a meaningful life in a world often characterized by automatic, self-centered thinking. The speech, delivered with Wallace’s characteristic intellectual rigor and empathy, challenges graduates to look beyond their immediate, default perspectives.

The core of Wallace’s argument lies in the idea that “the most obvious, important realities are often the hardest to see.” He uses the parable of two young fish swimming along who meet an older fish. The older fish asks them, “How’s the water?” and they swim on, apparently unaware of his meaning. Wallace posits that for humans, “water” represents the mundane, the obvious, and the unexamined environment of our daily lives – the automatic thoughts, assumptions, and perspectives that we rarely question. The “default setting” of our minds, he argues, is one of self-centeredness, where our own needs and perspectives are paramount. True freedom, Wallace suggests, is not about getting what we want, but about choosing what to think about, and actively choosing to see the world from perspectives other than our own.

The Importance of Conscious Choice in “This Is Water”

The speech emphasizes that the adult world is filled with mundane frustrations – traffic jams, tedious errands, interactions with difficult people. The default setting makes it easy to react with anger, impatience, or self-pity. Wallace’s central thesis is that we have the power to choose our interpretation of these situations. This doesn’t mean ignoring reality or pretending problems don’t exist, but rather consciously deciding what to focus on and how to frame our experiences.

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This act of choosing is difficult because it requires constant vigilance against our ingrained ego-centric tendencies. It involves developing empathy, not just as an abstract concept, but as a practical tool for navigating social interactions and understanding the complexities of others’ lives. By consciously choosing to think differently, to be aware of our “water,” we can move away from the default setting and cultivate a more deliberate, compassionate, and ultimately, freer existence.

Quick Comparison

Decision Rules

• If your goal is to fundamentally re-evaluate your daily perspective, prioritize engaging with “This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace.
• If you struggle with automatic negative reactions to everyday annoyances, focus on the “default setting” and the “choosing what to think” steps.
• If abstract concepts are challenging, lean into the concrete examples provided within the speech to understand the “water” metaphor.

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