And I'm Back!

I apologize for the lack of posts, that was due to a connection and internet error.

 

What is humanity? What is the concept of a thought?

In his speech to Kenyon College, 'This is Water' (2005), David Foster Wallace addresses the concept of the individual's role in society and within themselves. Wallace argues that naturally humanity has been degraded into a state of a "default setting", in which the human perspective is revealed as a variation of society itself. By encouraging the importance of education and self-expression, Wallace exposes the frailty and weakness of the human mind by his usage of stream of consciousness. Wallace identifies that the individual is not corrupt, but that society is the catalyst for conformity and fault through it's instigation of "this is that" and "that is this" concept. It is not the opinion of the individual, but the lesson integrated within the individual that leads into the assumptions of what is right and wrong--the social standards that convey society as a whole.

From birth we are taught that "2 + 2 = 4". And we accept that to be correct. Regardless of any scientific proof, we accept that someone out there knows exactly why that is true and move on. As though we are so limited on time that we are not able to look back. Yet, ironically it is our looking back, our research into the depths of the past which shape and influence out current state of living. Wallace uses the scenario of being in a supermarket and being stuck in traffic as though they are a huge waste of time. Yet, waste of time for what? Repeating the same cycle over again tomorrow? David reveals this concept of time being limited, while revealing the cycle of the average person.

So what is this purpose? Why does this cycle exist? Why must we conform as individuals into a community, a nation of repetition and foreseeing? It is the present which determines all else, and only by looking back may we see ahead.

Wallace expresses the greatest lesson of all, individuality and reality. Education and knowledge shape a person's perspective and opinion. And only through the knowledge gained through education, may an individual truly be free.