My response to Chris McCandless
I sit at my writing desk which is concealed by four walls, hidden I am safe from the evolving toxic world which stands only a few feet from my front door. starring aimlessly at my computer screen I can hear my vintage pocket watch ticking away above my head, It tells me it is eight o’clock. The pink horizon of the sun’s disappearance illustrates the end of a day. I have just finished reading Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into The Wild’ book. A true story about a young man named Christopher McCandless who’s life ambition was to live in the wild. Chris’s story of travel and survival and his tragic death imprinted many lives including my own. The words he shared in his journal will forever haunt my soul and pull on my emotional strings.
I feel myself and Chris were very much alike. I think we would have become good friends. Chris seemed to enjoy talking about books, adventure, love and the freedom of being alone. Anthony Storr’s philosophy about creative people finding fulfilment in isolation spoke to me. Storr talks about young children experiencing trauma such as early separation therefore, they may develop a principal of needing to find a purpose and a meaning in life which is not necessarily dependent upon close relationships. As a child I was abandoned. I experienced early separation in Russia and later struggled to form an attachment to people. My mind has been programmed to think that I cannot trust a soul on this planet.
My blood thickens to the thought of society telling me what to do, where to go next. I have this drive to be my own person, out in the wild like Chris did. Rebel against the norm of living, be free.
So this is me. I am escaping from the reckless increase of technology in which the high elite have blinded me by the illuminations that are embedded into the palm of my hand every day.
I am escaping from the noise, the chaos and the belief of just existing on this planet as a conforming machine like civilian who has become emotionally unavailable with my peers. I am escaping from the idea of satisfaction with the untrue tales that are feed to me on a daily basis as a way of society wrapping me in a cloak of control.
But do I have to experience loneliness to fulfill my need of finding a purpose in this life? I type away writing about the stories of Chris and trying to find a meaning within his transforming journey.
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” -Christopher McCandless
Chris talks about the wild, the freedom he felt beneath his skin. No one telling him what to do, no one ordering him where to go. It’s just Chris and wilderness. He tries to find his purpose, he tries to find the real meaning of life. However, Chris learns moments before his death that “happiness is only real when shared.”
Does this argue Storr’s theory? That creative people like myself and Chris who were abandoned in our early years of life are more likely to seek independence and isolation? Why did it take Chris two years living out in the wild to realise that sharing moments and experiences with people is the way to live a happy life? A question I will type now and leave on my computer screen, sadly knowing Chris will never be able to answer.
I feel myself and Chris were very much alike. I think we would have become good friends. Chris seemed to enjoy talking about books, adventure, love and the freedom of being alone. Anthony Storr’s philosophy about creative people finding fulfilment in isolation spoke to me. Storr talks about young children experiencing trauma such as early separation therefore, they may develop a principal of needing to find a purpose and a meaning in life which is not necessarily dependent upon close relationships. As a child I was abandoned. I experienced early separation in Russia and later struggled to form an attachment to people. My mind has been programmed to think that I cannot trust a soul on this planet.
My blood thickens to the thought of society telling me what to do, where to go next. I have this drive to be my own person, out in the wild like Chris did. Rebel against the norm of living, be free.
So this is me. I am escaping from the reckless increase of technology in which the high elite have blinded me by the illuminations that are embedded into the palm of my hand every day.
I am escaping from the noise, the chaos and the belief of just existing on this planet as a conforming machine like civilian who has become emotionally unavailable with my peers. I am escaping from the idea of satisfaction with the untrue tales that are feed to me on a daily basis as a way of society wrapping me in a cloak of control.
But do I have to experience loneliness to fulfill my need of finding a purpose in this life? I type away writing about the stories of Chris and trying to find a meaning within his transforming journey.
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” -Christopher McCandless
Chris talks about the wild, the freedom he felt beneath his skin. No one telling him what to do, no one ordering him where to go. It’s just Chris and wilderness. He tries to find his purpose, he tries to find the real meaning of life. However, Chris learns moments before his death that “happiness is only real when shared.”
Does this argue Storr’s theory? That creative people like myself and Chris who were abandoned in our early years of life are more likely to seek independence and isolation? Why did it take Chris two years living out in the wild to realise that sharing moments and experiences with people is the way to live a happy life? A question I will type now and leave on my computer screen, sadly knowing Chris will never be able to answer.