"of course, there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying. The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom. The alternative is unconsciousness, the default setting, the "rat race" -- the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing." -David Foster Wallace "This is Water"
I've been surprised to learn that DFW finds resisting isolation so important to personal happiness/freedom/identity.
I don't know much of the guy {yet}, but i had an image of a brilliant, cynical, reclusive genius author man... not a man who sees value in sacrifice for others or pursing authenticity in relationships with others.
This whole idea is a fresh thought. I understand the importance of genuine interaction and love for others... I understand that so much of our identity is contingent upon our relationship with others....
but i always bristle a little when sacrifice for others or concern for others is valorized or privileged above self knowledge... (not that it is in this particular quote... but my first reaction was to read it as such).
it's some kind of balance... paradoxical... but self is so important. so important.
self-knowledge and genuine concern for your own basic needs, in my mind, are the absolute first steps in authenticity in interaction with others.
in other news: best summer of my life and flying by and freedom and eyes wide open and healthy living and wonderful wonderful others
