Living alone in the forest is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for some people, the idea of taking a break from the “work, buy, consume, die” culture of society and adventuring into the mountains sounds like the perfect escape. For Christopher McCandless, the main character in the non-fiction book and 2007 film Into the Wild, this was his meaningful way of living.
Fed up with the pressures of fast-paced consumerist culture, McCandless changes his name to Alexander Supertramp, leaving his city, his family, his prestigious university degree, and potential athletic career for a new life in the Alaskan wild. This would be the seemingly ideal natural way to live, right? Just a man and his backpack, living off the land. But the way the film ends would suggest otherwise. The emotions of frustration, resentment, and anger towards society remain in McCandless’s subconscious. Initially thrilled to be isolated from society, the loneliness, harsh winter, and shortage of supplies eventually get to him. Making a plan to return to his family, McCandless tries and fails to make it out of the wilderness. Forced by a rising river to remain in the forest and gather berries for food, he accidentally ingests poisonous berries and is found dead in his sleeping bag a few days later. A heavy way to end a film, especially one based on a true story, but it makes you think. So many of us may have felt exactly like McCandless at some point in our lives. Our pressure-cooker society can become too much sometimes, so it seems that there’s no alternative but to get out, to escape for a while. So many of us do just that every weekend, using our hardearned money to forget ourselves through our drink or drug of choice. Then there’s also the typical Kiwi choice of driving for many kilometres to a bach, campsite or holiday home, just to have some peace of mind for a few days. Or if you’re a little more affluent, perhaps you can afford to fly you and your family to the Canadian Rockies for a week of skiing, eating, and merry-making. But is it really worth the endeavour just for a few days or weeks of enjoyment? When the night, day or week comes to a close, we wrap up all our so-called enjoyment and again return to the world of stale suits and ties, last-minute meetings, and traffic jams. In the yogi world, this is known as the cycle of bhoga-tyaga – false renunciation. During the week, the worker or student falsely renounces all enjoyment, and then during the weekend he splurges, goes wild, and winds it all back up by the time Sunday comes to a close.
But what is real renunciation? Contrary to popular belief, real renunciation doesn’t involve dropping your degree or your job, calling it quits on material life, and moving to the forest like McCandless did. Nor does it mean moving to the Himalayas to sit on top of a mountain all day. As Krishna explains in Bhagavad Gita, the guidebook to the perfection of renunciation, a true renunciant is “he who renounces the fruits of action” (18.9). Krishna is pointing out that renunciation doesn’t involve giving up work to be lazy, and it doesn’t involve working really hard just to enjoy the results of our work in the weekend. Real renunciation means working for Krishna, the Supreme Benefactor.
McCandless’s journey into the wild exemplifies Krishna’s statement in the Bhagavad Gita: “What can repression accomplish?” (3.33). The yogi doesn’t have to restrain his senses, because they are already dovetailed in working for the Supreme. Through this process of real renunciation, all the anger, resentment, and frustrations that are hiding in the heart get kicked out. Then we can remain within the pressure cooker of society, but not be affected by its heat. Could there be anyone more cool-headed than one who has truly renounced?
