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I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence, I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in quiet life. — Leo Tolstoy, “Family Happiness”
The story of Chris “Alexander Supertramp” McCandless has inspired hundreds of vagabonders — Chris’ ideals of heading into the wilds, surviving on his own through hitchhiking, hiking, hunting, gathering, left many feeling overwhelmed with the loss of their own lives to the obscurity and drone of everyday money-making and idealism.
Jon Krakauer’s book, “Into the Wild” inspired a movie (of the same name), and I personally have encountered friend after friend along the road who cites Krakauer’s work as pivotal and seminal to their own life. My friend Colleen, with whom I traveled through Honduras and Guatemala last year, love it. I found it in the bookshelves of people who have opened their homes to me, in the traveling cases of rideshares who hopped into my car (glorified hitchhiking!), and even my own mother, who had never heard of it before, praised Chris’ ideals. ”He just wanted to live his own life, his own way,” she said.
Yet McCandless’ death, after hurling himself into Alaskan wilderness armed only with a light-gauge rifle and ten pounds of rice, made many people certain that he wasn’t showing proper respect for the nature he claimed to love. He was arrogant, they said, and so he died. The land is dangerous. The land deserves respect. Wandering deserves respect.
Wandering, vagabonding, call it what you want…it’s outside the realm of usual societal rules, so it requires different rules, rules of its own. We have to find or create those rules ourselves, because no-one will make them for us. We are creating a new world, albeit one that already exists in some ways, and a new way to be in it.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Aren’t we always looking for some connection with and vitality for life on a soul/spirit level. Yet we often loose sight of the limits present in our human condition. I think a life lived intentionally, with the desire for meaning making, has to include respect for aquired wisdom and an energy for living out the transcendent nature of our souls within the confines of the human condition. Here’s a quote that reminds me that we lose our souls when we disconnect from finding meaning or purpose in what we do with our lives.
“There is no easy formula for determining right and wrong livelihood, but it is essential to keep the question alive. To return the sense of dignity and honor to manhood, we have to stop pretending that we can make a living at something that is trivial or destructive and still have sense of legitimate self-worth. A society in which vocation and job are separated for most people gradually creates an economy that is often devoid of spirit, one that frequently fills our pocketbooks at the cost of emptying our souls.”–Sam Keen
January 28th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Alex’s choices were his own to make, who am I to judge?
Perhaps it’s the quantity of experience, and not the quantity of time, that counts in life.
January 28th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Assorted Links 1/28/09…
Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers Into the Wild Shark Fin Ice Tray The Scourge of Redshirting. Kindergarteners… Not Athletes AT&T Announces First Femtocell For 3G Users eBay comes around, begins to realize Skype needs to go Elean…
January 28th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Assorted Links 1/28/09…
Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers The New Congress 2009: Understanding The 111th Congress, February 10, 2009 Capitol Hill Workshop: Politics, Policy, and Process, February 11-13, 2009 The President’s Budget, February 24, 2009 The …