All throughout the history of mankind, nations have been fighting for freedom. However, being free is not only limited to not being imprisoned, enslaved or restricted to move (Oxford Dictionaries). Perhaps, the greatest freedom is that of breaking the boundaries of self and thinking of the greater picture, which David Foster Wallace extensively describes, in In His Own Words.
In fact, if one has ever read The Allegory of the Cave, by ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, will immediately recognize familiar paths in Wallace’s commencement, as it was posted in The Economist magazine on September 19th 2008. Plato describes a group of people being tied with chains in a dark cave with a fire burning behind them, where the only perception of what is “real” are the shadows taking forms in front of them. They have never experienced the real world with the sun’s rays showering them and when one escapes the cave and witnesses the greatness of the outer –real- world and gets back to the cave to spread the news, he is rejected by others as talking nonsense. This is exactly what Wallace describes in his commencement.
Wallace, like Plato, speak of the real world and freedom in a very unique way. To both, whatever one experiences and lives in life is the outcome of what was passed on to them through culture and societal values as they are defined over time. It is the role of education to make people come to terms that they can consciously decide what, of what they have inherited as beliefs, is meaningful and which is not. Thus, make a conscientious choice of everything around and inside them, including what to believe. Wallace focuses on what liberal arts actually teach graduates and, according to his viewpoint, freedom to choose what they think, is the most valuable lesson learnt.
He explains that people usually tend to behave as it is expected from them to behave and one’s cultural background forms their beliefs, which is what makes worldviews differ. However, how freeing are the concepts people have unquestionably been carrying inside them since their birth? In a didactic story, of the many, Wallace has mentioned in his commencement, the existence of God is perceived differently by an atheist and a religious guy. What is interesting to mention at this point, though, is that Wallace clears out that none of those guys is necessarily correct or false because society says so and expects its people to be religious and worshiping. Also the atheist, like many religious individuals, is distinguished by close-mildness and blind certainty of their beliefs that does not allow them to realize that they are locked up inside a prison of their own mind. And, being imprisoned is definitely not a sign of freedom. What Wallace argues about is that people should construct meaning out of intentional choice, rather than behaving according to what is “automatically absorbed from the culture”. In other words, imposing our own thinking process over what the mind automatically dictates is deliberating.
Wallace further explains that people act out of selfishness, believing that the entire world revolves around them. That concept, among many others are part of the “hard-wired default setting which is to be deeply and literally self-centered and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self” (Wallace). He warns graduate of the future awaiting after their graduation: of the adult life as they have not experienced it yet, but they soon will. A world that includes petty frustration and boring routine, where one can choose to think other than what is automatic, natural default setting. In other words, Wallace demonstrates another way to live life, where everyone gets to choose their own thoughts, reactions and behaviors when living any kind of experience, which eventually makes them free people and ready to cope with hazards the most effective way possible. For example, instead of concentrating about one’s individual fatigue when stuck in traffic and allow their mind to automatically, unintentionally trigger and lock to anger and frustration, it is best to learn to think of what others may be going through and be less arrogant and more humane.
Of course, altering one’s orientation towards the world is not an easy task and requires hard work and most importantly: will. Wallace’s words and concepts make sense. If we are offered with a choice in our everyday life, we might chose to look at the world differently. And that changes worldview may be more appealing to us than imagined because it might awaken sentiments and feelings never experienced before that make life before death worth living. And, death is not only limited to the physical permanent ending of a body’s vital functions and processes, but also includes the distinguished death of life that can occur when people are chained in a life adjusted by what their minds dictate, rather than making choices themselves for themselves. Being aware of what is real makes us free, even if we have to remind ourselves over and over again that “this is water”.
Works Cited
Oxford dictionaries (n.d). “Definition of freedom in English”. Web. Nov. 8, 2013. <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/freedom>
Plato as translated by Benjamin Jowett (1871). “The Allegory of the Cave”. Web. 8, 2013. <http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/allegory.html>
Wallace, D. Foster (2008). “David Foster Wallace, In His Own Words”. The Economist: Inteligent Life. Web. Nov. 8, 2013. <http://moreintelligentlife.com/story/david-foster-wallace-in-his-own-words>
