Your Mind is an Excellent Servant, but a Terrible Master - David Foster Wallace 

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I try to listen to this speech once a week so that I don't forget it... Ever.

Man... this is so important today. “A close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn’t even know he’s locked up.”

"The soul is dyed with the colour of it's thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius

I first read this some time ago, I decided to tell myself every morning, "There are only two things I control - what I pay attention to and how I respond to my experience." For example, you cannot control what you like or who you love but you can control over what you do about these things. I have found that striving to make wise choices about what I pay attention to has made a huge difference in my life. If I were to have one rule of life, that would be it. Thank you David Foster Wallace. Rest in Peace.

I have a story that fits the theme of this, and I hope some more real life experience helps someone out there. I was 22, in the National Guard on active duty. I worked a lot, often 80+ hour weeks. I'd been working for about 8 hours by the time we got lunch break that day, and instead of the typical hour long lunch they told us to be back in 30 min. On such a stressful day, with so much going on, I was pretty livid. 30 min was barely enough time to get up the street to get some food and get back, so I hopped in my car and rushed to the closest place; McDonalds. I'm lucky, I'm only second in line as I pull in, I'm staring at my clock and trying to add up how many seconds I'd have to scarf it and get back inside at work. As I'm sitting there I start to get impatient. One minute turns into two, two into three, and by this point I'm fuming. How long does it take to order a fucking burger? I can see the lady in the van in front of me looking at me in her side view mirror. Seeing her looking at me just pissed me off even more, I felt like she was actually intentionally taking her time at this point, especially with her eyeing me. I have my windows up, so I start cussing her outloud. Four minutes goes by, and I'm furious. I'm ready to get out of my car and go kick her window in. Was this some sort of anti-military person trying to fuck me over? One of those liberal hippies who hate soldiers and just want to ruin everyones day? How could this person be SO selfish they'd sit here for nearly five minutes now. And I'm YELLING, top of my lungs in my car at this person. Cussing, just pissed. I can't even back out of the drivethru at this point as more cars had come behind me. Finally she pulls forward, I screech up to the order window, curtly order my food, and pull up again. Things run smoothly from here, as the van in front of me pulls away and I aggressively gun my engine and slam my brakes at the order window, to show everyone how angry I was (I guess) and vent how frustrated I am that this person ruined my entire lunch, fucked over my whole day, and did this to me on such a bad day for it. As I go to pay, the McDonalds manager comes to the window. They lean out, and hand me a gift card. Confused, I take it, as they explain the person in front of me's had noticed my uniform. Her husband died in Iraq, and she'd wanted to not only buy me lunch, but also give me something nice for my service as a way to honor his memory. I'm telling you, I have never, ever, felt like such a piece of shit, self centered human in my life. This, and some other, less drastic experiences in life began to open my eyes up to feeling compassion for others, and realize that life does not revolve around us. It helped me later in life to save lives, looking at the world through the lens of someone elses eyes instead of my own first. Understanding that even if you don't understand something someone did or says, there was a reason for it and it was a valid one, right or wrong aside, they HAD a reason. I really hope more people learn to see the world this way. I know it sounds like hippy bullshit, but if we are all to survive this planet together there has got to be some understanding, empathy, and compassion.

Go to 4 years of school to learn your most important message on graduation day.

I’ve read and heard this maybe 30x and still not enough. That he took his own life does not take away from his massage at all. He had been suffering for many years - and look at this gift he has left us. Dear DFW, thank you.

Gotta love how the students applauded and wooed at the point where Wallace was pointing out their own hypocrisy, without realizing in doing so, they were reinforcing his point altogether. Bless their little hearts.

Props to the mans who tediously drew all the graphics for this video. Very underrated.

"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain

Every time I listen to this speech it’s hard not to tear up. I wish you never had to leave us king 🙏🏼

This speech is incredible. I most likely would never have heard it if not for After Skool’s incredible mind-seizing artistry. I see value in their work.

A lot of people don’t learn compassion until they are on their deathbed. Don’t be that person. Love will set you free from pain.

This very speech perhaps saved thousands of lives from the chaos of order. Unfortunately the very mind that David Foster Wallace spoke of here is the same mind that killed him. This is so tragically, painfully beautiful and I don't know how to contain myself at this point. All I know is I needed to hear this. Thank you internet, thank you David

The laughter throughout was dystopian enough, but the crowd erupting into cheers when David Foster Wallace was describing the bad assumptions was truly horrific. I imagine that had to be soul-crushing for poor David, especially considering his struggles with mental illness. Rest in Wisdom, king 👑

Audience: Speaker: This is an example of how *not* to think, by the way...

I think the audience laughs at a very serious and weird point not because it's funny, but because they know his painful words are true about them and they feel uncomfortable and sad.

Holy cow, what a powerful speech. Everything True I’ve come to realize, masterfully put into words. Thank you for this.

Graduating from uni in 2020 I never got a ceremony or speech. This was the graduation speech I never knew I needed 🥺 thank you !!!!

In a word. Compassion. Not just for others, but for self.

This hit me really really hard. I'm 38 and I feel sooooo much of what he's discussed and have only just now started breaking free from these shackles of expectations, shoulds, and self loathing.

Three years later, he would commit suicide, setting an end to his brain, the terrible master. He exposed to us the inner workings of a tragedy that he and all others experienced, but he reached a point of clarity about it and put it into words for us. We hear you David, thanks for your messages, and rest in peace.

David Foster Wallace's depression really comes through in this speech. I'd consider myself depressed and I don't see the world with half as much malice.

You are missed dearly, David Foster Wallace.

The identification with thoughts, the stories you tell yourself, it's all ego. You are not your thoughts, you are the awareness.

I've seen so many stuck in the mentality of "I need to appear better than my neighbors." Then they become "Ha, look at those neighbors who are worse than me." The toxicity comes home with them, and they ruin their own lives & family & divorce happens.

There is a seemingly under appreciated amount of work in these videos, this is truly awesome 👌

THIS ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE TAUGHT EVERY DAY IN OUR SCHOOLS THIS IS WATER THIS IS WATER MY NEW MANTRA THANK YOU

look at After Skool teaching us the things we should have learned in school

"The ability to CHOOSE what to think and what not to think is a superpower which only few of us will possess in the imminent Future." "Not every thought has to be manifested." "Detach and observe yourself as much as you can throughout the day."

We’re all in this alone together.

This speech was awe-inspiring. I can't believe that I spent 23 minutes watching this video without scrolling down to the comments or clicking away briefly to other tabs. It's a shame David Foster Wallace isn't around anymore to give more speeches like this in today's world. Thank you After Skool for uploading and animating this fantastic piece of speech!

First heard this when I graduated in 2008, and I can humbly verify that everything is 100% true now. Literally, everything he said is the damn Truth. Please wake up now and don't waste your life like I did for many years.

Beautiful truth that doesn’t require school just true awareness.

I think I've heard this speech 4 times in my life now, and it still gives me chills every time.

One of the greatest and most tragic speeches ever......As David is so spot on exact, and yet will kill himself 3 years later.

*If you are not driving your ship, someone else will.*

Funny how the audience is laughing at the truly sad parts because that is how they live

I’m completely awed, not only by your beautiful art, but your ability to bring clarity to the spoken word of great orators.

I like how Dave emphasises how difficult it is to truly adopt this multidimensional perspective in the day to day frustrations and vicissitudes - it certainly fucking is - but that doesn't mean you're some inherently narcissistic person or you're a lost cause, it's just a naturally conditioned mode of thinking, and we need to challenge it as much as possible.

And this a heartbeat before the floodgates of the Social Media age opened. I'm shaking my head and deeply missing the light that people like him, Carlin, Hitchens and Hicks shed on our world.

This is a basically a very well explained case for deterministic philosophy

This gets better and more meaningful for me over time. I used this commencement speech for years with Japanese college graduates for years, and it always resonated with a few of them. Having come back to it all these years later, I am so grateful that it is work that brings clarity at different points in my life.

"Blind certainty - A close-mindedness that amounts to an imprisonment so total that the prisoner doesn't even know he's locked up." I first heard the "This is Water" speech about 7 years ago and I have come back to it countless times since. And every time I revisit it, this line hits me like a ton of bricks -- leading me to question the things I've come to know for certain.

Crazy, I was just binging interviews with David. Never met the guy but he's changed my life. I feel less alone because of his writing. Thank you, David.

This is slowly but steadily becoming one of my favourite channels As new grandma I keep sending these to my sons to share with their sons, my grandsons. Most people of my generation say internet is evil I disagree . It’s all about choice like in this amazing speech

Your illustrations are wonderful and relatable, thanks so much for spending your time here in this way.

Graduated today and this is the best speech I've ever heard

Right around 13:41 "This is an example of how NOT to think..." Most important part of the speech.

This is so awesome. Thank you for making this available for free.

What a speech!!! Hat down for Mr Wallace, this is one of the most inspiring speeches i’ve heard in my life

I love this quote from Rumi - “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” I started meditating daily a few years ago and my perspective on life has completely changed as a result. I couldn't find much ambient music suitable for meditation, so I decided to create my own. This has ultimately led me to launch my own ambient meditation music channel on RU-vid. Work on yourself and you might be surprised what happens as a result.

RIP Mr. Wallace. Thank you for sharing and introducing me to his brilliance.

This video describes why I never wanted to be ordinary or normal.

Watched this video over and over again, just wonder why people dislike this video, it really is such a good lesson.

You're crushin it brother!! Thanks for not only animating such wonderful imagery but for first finding potent speeches and talks of such high value. Big loves bruv.

I like the analogy of driving a car, because it's completely evident in the way people drive, on how they think. you can tell someone thinks the world revolves around them if they camp out in the left lane, brake check people or drive in a way that puts other's lives in danger tho sometimes people camp in the left lane because they're actually clueless every time you start to get angry on the road, remember that these are people, who have lives and a lot of them would like to keep living those lives.

Thank you so much for always making these videos that help us all reconnect with our true selves. I feel like they find me in divine timing, and a time where I really am destined to hear them. Much love.

Incredibly powerful and thought-provoking. I've been on the journey toward enhanced awareness for about six months now and just like Wallace says, it's insanely difficult to maintain. However, just like with anything else, the more we practice an awareness detached from the ego, the easier it becomes. Indeed, this freedom is more than worth the effort.

One should view everything told to them with an “open-minded skepticism.” Accept you don’t know *everything* but don’t invalidate the knowledge and references you already know to be true.

Dude! That was awesome! I've heard this speech a hundred times and have always loved it and tried to live it as best I can. Having the art behind it was unbelievable. Seeing someone put that much work in on something that I hold so close was incredible

So cool when you watch a video for the second time and it's better than you remembered. Thank you After Skool and David

This is water, and I am grateful to be able to swim everyday.

Wisdom lets me know I am nothing, love lets me know I am everything. Love is the true power of the universe.

I really needed this. Earlier today I came home from work feeling so angry and defeated. My job and the people I work with can infuriate me, and I want to chastise myself for having failed to do better in life. It's tempting to be bitter and negative. Pessimism provides a relief so immediate and satisfying. Positivity requires effort, self-control, and at times feels shortsighted or naive. But we all posses the capability to see the world in whatever way we want, to stop and think before reacting to something we might initially feel inclined to deride as stupid, unfair, or monotonous. I've familiarized myself with this way of thinking before. I know I don't have to be a slave to knee-jerk negativity. It's just reassuring to hear this speech delivered so eloquently by DFW, especially today. We hold the reins, people. Never forget it.

An absolute must for the young to try and absorb as early on in life as possible. I am 38 and just now been practicing this way of life through many hardships of my own. Do it for yourself.

...Thank you for the beautiful speech and the accompanying animation to remember David Wallace. Drink to a great man who lived a full life...

"A man chooses, a slave obeys..." -Andrew Ryan edit: this was a line from BioShock

One of the most amazing and eye opening speeches I have ever listened to.

The efficiency with which this video is animated is truly awesome. You guys rock.

Such a beautiful and Value creating speech...So apt for modern times.

aw i love this

Perception is everything and it starts with your outlook. Live for love in all things and you will win it all.

This is a wonderful speech and I love to listen to it, I just feel it would be better to tell this to students before they start their degrees, not afterwards.

That is the most heartfelt truth I have ever heard I honor you my friend.

"Diversity of belief" "Less arrogance" I can believe someone saying that unironically, in 2005; sucks that that's not what Liberal Arts degrees stand for anymore. Also, "This is an example of how not to think" while they're cheering, hilarious.

I just found this exact speech not even two days ago! Re-watching because I love the channel, and because this is a really thought-provoking speech. Keep it up! Always great content.

Thank you so much for your time, effort and attention to detail ‼️

the artwork and handwriting in this are both fantastic

This Is Water always has an uncanny means of showing up at just the right time throughout my life of experiencing it. May your words echo for centuries and not be discredited by the one time you took a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Much love and R.I.P.

This guy is unbelievable. Thanks so much for sharing this.

I loved this so much. I’m going to save it and watch it whenever I feel low.

Another fantastic presentation. Thank you. Simply, thank you.

I absolutely loved this video. I constantly remind people (especially at work) that the way you look at your life and the world is a choice. The world is what you make it and how you CHOOSE to see it!!!!

I really really needed this today. Thank you . I work at one of those low paying jobs. I love my little job tho. At least I did for the the first year. I like the interaction of customer service. Oh, there are days it sucks, more like moments . A couple weeks ago I had a guy go in on my little low paying job, called me every name , threatened me. ... It really scared me. The last several days I have had anxiety. I forgot I liked my job. I forgot how to think. All I was thinking about it that . And I forgot the reasons I liked it.

Thanks for your time to post and draw this one. From this theme a thousand plays could be written

Wow! Thats the best commencement speech I’ve ever heard! I sent it to all of my kids and husband❤ it’s crazy because so many of us don’t understand the simple sayings like “make every day count” or “you have a choice” but this video really captures so much of what we all need to hear routinely.

Imagine if our 12 years of school were as useful as this speech

I've found plenty of other ways to look at life that are less depressing. Like instead of hating traffic, I appreciate how we all worked together to create these roads and cars, and how rough it was back when we had to farm for ourselves, how consumerism means we're all helping each other make ourselves as comfortable as possible and find a sense of self or at least distraction before we die, allowing each other to put in and get as much or as little as we want out of life with fairly good, efficient infrastructure compared to what we could have. You can decide a consumer society based on greed is ugly, or you can decide it's beautiful that we've all worked so hard to give each other more comfortable lives and enabled each other to be surrounded by things that comfort us and make our lives easier without being forced to, just out of our natural desire to seek mutual beneficial arrangements as human beings. That someone came up with this system and it works well enough that we can contemplate these things in traffic or in line at the grocery store, and even now people are working on easing even these small frustrations with innovations like Amazon and teleconferencing. We harnessed our own selfishness to motivate ourselves to help each other. There's no contradiction... we can seek selfish goals by seeking to benefit others in exchange for what we want, that in itself is the beauty of the system. There's a beauty to all of it that some of the most educated people seem surprisingly unable to see, or don't want to see. Instead of seeing the guy driving the truck with the patriotic symbols as bad, maybe wonder what he sees about life that you don't. No, really... maybe he's so patriotic because he feels that his nation has given him everything he sees around him that he's able to enjoy and there's a sense of gratitude that his ancestors fought so hard for him to be able to enjoy these roads, this car, all of it, and that's what he wants to honor. Maybe he's happy that he's able to enjoy that truck that's so much better the the old beater he just replaced, and relishes the ability to drive off-road and get away from it all for a while, see nature, be less depressed by looking at a grey cityscape all the time... maybe some of the places he goes don't have the best roads... he just has different priorities, maybe those priorities aren't evil or immoral.

This is one of the top 10 YT channels ever. Funny entertaining but educational all at the same time. Perfect!

Beautiful job on the animation. It is incredibly impressive.

This video is already blowing my mind. Need to watch this everyday

I just wanted to thank the after skool team for allt hat they have done. You are changing the world even if its on a small scale. Your hard work will pay off!!! Thank you!

So powerful! Thank you for helping me to be awake and aware and to change my thinking patterns and see things in a whole new light. Thank you

One of my fav speeches, great to see this here. Thanks!

"It’s not about thinking about questions of life after death; The Truth is about life before death." - That really hit me

that was really beautiful......im so grateful. I'm a single mother w/ C-PTSD who has raised a boy who has absorbed my trauma so terribly. I am actively trying to reduce my angry outbursts. Stop reacting and start acting instead. And live a happy existence so he doesn't end up being depressed and wanting to kill himself. I'll keep watching this over and over. It's so profound and there's so much wisdom here. Thanks xxoo :)

This is amazing in every way possible. Beautiful work.

Awesome speech, amazing work to present it. Big ups!