Into the Wild to Find the Need for Community

“Happiness is only real if it is shared.” So wrote Christopher McCandless after being isolated in the Alaskan wilderness for months. He had gone out there to escape from the evils of “society,” and especially that particular part of society known as “mom and dad.” It was these two in particular that he was most offended by, and most desirious to flee. But eventually upon realizing that his escape had become a prison, Chris senses that deep need we all have for community.

Into the Wild is a  2007 film adaptation of the 1996 non-fiction book by the same name. It’s a gritty, sometimes humorous, sometimes boring, but overall deeply affecting film. The story recounts the journey of Chris (who calls himself Alex Supertramp) from Emory University to Alaska. All along the way Chris finds out more about the world and about himself as he encounters new people, only he doesn’t seem to notice it. He doesn’t really see any inherently necessary value in relationships, but he will come to regret that line of thinking. We all need relationships.

C.S. Lewis wrote a beautiful celebration of relationships in his book Four Loves. In one essay Lewis comments on the death of his friend Charles and describes it as a more significant loss than it even seems. He writes that in losing Charles he also loses a part of his other friend (J.R.R. Tolkien). After Charles died he would never again hear Tolkien laugh at one of Charles’ jokes. The idea which Lewis goes on to communicate is that it is through mutual relationships we experience more of one another. In another essay (From the Reflections on the Psalms) he comments that joy is only truly experienced in the sharing of that joy. All these comments reflect the importance of community which the Bible itself communicates.

Our God is a relational-God; in and of himself God is three persons in one God. The Trinity reflects the importance of relationships. Furthermore God deemed it good to make man and have communion with him. And God made Adam and declared that it was not good that man should be alone. Aloneness is not commended in the Bible, but Community is! What Chris McCandless seemed to miss resulted in a sad ending to his life, but there is hope for us. Value community as a gift from God, and as a necessity for our own “good” lives. I hope none of us has to become stranded in the wild in order to find the need for community!