Summary Of David Foster Wallace's Perception Of Water

What is David Foster Wallace’s perception of water? David Wallace explains in his speech; This is Water, the very essence of human nature. Which emphasizes that humans have a “default setting.” The natural humanistic behavior to “worship things such as money, power, smarts, our looks, and so on.” (David Wallace) With this stuff in mind, it is our choice to choose what exactly we worship. Whether we go against our natural selves or stay “unconscious.” David breaks this theory down into sections. Such as how, we as humans, perceive things. Our self-absorption and the negative consequences of living in our natural state. But first I would like to talk about Wallace’s theory on how we as humans perceive things. Wallace says that “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid, and important person in existence.” (David Wallace) Elaborating Wallace’s belief that humans are naturally self-centered. We as humans never, in any situation, put others first; we

What is it that keeps up sane and bluntly… living? It’s knowing that we as humans are fighting our selfish “default settings.” It’s giving ourselves a purpose, as oppose to going with the hardwired setup in our brain. The “default setting” in our brain gives us nothing but a feeling of vanity. The feeling of not enough money. The feeling of not looking good enough. The feeling that we are not good enough for ourselves and others. That feeling, like Wallace stated, can lead to us committing suicide. The feeling of never being good enough or not having enough can drive anyone insane. Fighting this “default setting” can give us hope; Wallace says that “I know that this stuff probably doesn’t sound fun and breezy or grandly inspirational.” Still, we must remind ourselves why we do it. It’s just like Wallace said, “This is water, this is