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What is the point or matter of the opening fish story?
That the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the hardest to see and talk about.
What “natural, basic” trait does Wallace say is our default-setting?
A deep, literal self-centeredness that makes us feel like the absolute center of the universe.
How does the author define “learning how to think”?
As learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think, by choosing what you pay attention to and how you construct meaning from experience.
What danger of college education does he mention from his own experience?
That it enables his tendency to over-intellectualize and get lost in abstract arguments instead of paying attention to what is actually happening.
What does the author say is “exactly where the work of choosing comes in”? Where does the work of choosing begins?
Petty, frustrating situations like traffic jams, crowded aisles, and long checkout lines.
What happens if you worship money and things?
You will never have enough and will never feel you have enough.
What does the author say about atheism in “the day-to-day trenches of adult life”?
That there is actually no such thing as atheism, no such thing as not worshipping; everybody worships.
What is the “really important kind of freedom” according to the author?
The one that involves attention, awareness, discipline, effort, and truly caring about and sacrificing for other people in myriad, unsexy ways every day.
What is NOT real freedom according to the author?
Unconsciousness, the default-setting, the “rat race,” and the constant gnawing sense of having had and lost some infinite thing.
What does the author say the “capital-T Truth” is about?
It is about life before death, simple awareness of what is real and essential, hidden in plain sight, that we must keep reminding ourselves of: “This is water, this is water.”