It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.
David Foster WallaceFiction, poetry, music...these are the places (for me) where loneliness is countenanced, stared down, transfigured, treated.
David Foster WallaceI have always tried to avoid talking to pretty girls, because pretty girls have a vicious effect on me in which every part of my brain is shut down except for the part that says unbelievably stupid things and the part that is aware that I am saying unbelievably stupid things.
David Foster WallaceThe reader becomes God, for all textual purposes. I see your eyes glazing over, so I'll hush.
David Foster Wallace