What is This? Water? I See Me! And a Bunch of Other Things Behind Me!

Even if you're not a rose

Be a sweet Narcissus,

A fanatic of self-existence

-Fana, Move Again

David Foster Wallace, in his commencement speech, This is Water, begins with a short didactic about fish, how the younger fish does not notice "What the hxll" water is. (1) Wallce compares this with human thought; how we don't notice that we are thinking all the time, and therefore should control of what we are thinking. Instead of making self centered thoughts, he claims that we all think toward others.

Ok. Sure. You can go ahead. Not me though.

One thing that differentiates me from, say, Billy the ape is that I am able to think more than they do. Besides that, and the fact that they are hairier than myself, we are pretty much the same. We both share the goal of surviving and thriving. In this aspect, thinking for ourselves is an obvious perspective. This is exactly why Wallce calls this "default settings." (5) But is this bad?

Thought is a natural process. Harnessing it so you make it is not natural, you are simply thinking about thinking. This is a mere waste of brainpower and time. Take the example Wallace gives us. He says it is not impossible for people in SUVs have "been in horrible auto accidents" which is the reason behind their poor driving. The possibility is there, but this, for many of us, is not the first thought that comes into mind. Making second hand thoughts, or purposely created thoughts, does not impact our actual emotions. Rather, it takes up time and space.

Thinking positively is obviously a positive thing to do. Question is, how do we achieve it? The process Wallace explains is effective, but the development until one can naturally think optimitcally takes quite an amount of time and willpower. A solution is blocking out negative self centered thoughts.

Back on the highway, with our slow SUV Wallace has given us. Instead of thinking about why the heck it's so slow, just think about something else. The bushy hair that need to be cut. That new bag of chips you bought. Your family at home. The new Kanye West album. Wait, where did the SUV go?

What I'm saying is you don't need to change a potentially negative topic good. Just change the topic.