Most adolescents seek it in the army or in thrills. 
This is understandable; they need to test the limits of their physical
being.  But the army is not interested in creating self-empowered, autonomous
individuals; they are not interested in the well-being and growth of the young
man for his own sake.  They want soldier-ants not samurai-kings. 

Thrills won’t do it either because there are no elders to help the youngsters
process the meaning of their experience, to learn and grow from it.  Of
course it also means they may die and kill others in the process.  Putting
your own life at risk is fine when you understand the implications and
intentions behind it.  But when it’s seeing how much you can drink after
having sex with your girlfriend while driving 100 mph on city streets it
doesn’t bode well. 

You suggest that nature herself can initiate.  I’m not so sure.  I
believe nature is always a desirable element in initiation.  Often it is
the key element.  But without
“culture” to at least frame the experience, before and after, if not also
during, then there is no purpose.  Initiation is a cultural construct to
insure human harmony and preserve generativity.  The point of initiation is to live in harmony with fellow
human beings, in community, and to preserve the continuity of generations.  Living in harmony with nature is
certainly an important outcome of initiation but not as essential as harmony
among humans.  

To me the central tragedy of Into the Wild is a cultural
tragedy, not a nature tragedy.  If only that young man had the guidance
of an elder or two he might not have lost his life in his noble quest for
initiation.  If only he grew up in
a culture that recognized his simple need, the biological, cellular-level need
that his own nature demanded, to enfold him in a crucible that contained his
transformation into mature man.  
So it wasn’t just his father who failed him but all the people he met
during his travels, even the wise and loving ones.  That’s what ultimately breaks my heart. 

By indigenous cultural standards some deaths during
initiation are “acceptable”.  The
understanding is that the greater forces watching over the community (“God” or
gods, “the grandfathers,” whatever…) recognize a future potential threat to the
community in the form of the young man and take his life.  So his dying is actually understood as a
necessary part of the well-being and protection of the greater numbers. 

Not so with Chris. 
With no elders to guide and protect his passage – at the very least an
elder might have pointed out the seasonal river issue and suggested bringing
more food – Chris simply succumbed to the arbitrary and undifferentiating power
of nature.  To me that’s a tragic
waste.  To me that’s what’s truly
sad.

I definitely see the Daoist Yin and Yang in this movie. And as that timeless symbol shows, masculinity without femininity is immature and incomplete. Similarly, femininity without masculinity is immature and incomplete. As you know, modernity is connected with orange in the spiral dynamics model. The generation represented by Chris’ parents (and indeed my own) is definitely heavy on orange. Orange is extremely masculine, and ego-centric. The world is there to be mastered by the individual, often (unwittingly) to the detriment of nature and the feminine. I think orange has been great for the development of human civilization, self-realization and our intellect, but quite damaging to our relationship with nature, each other, and our emotions.

What I think this movie shows brilliantly is that the single-minded focus on intellect and rationality as well as the distribution of nature’s resources as property to be owned is causing havoc to the human heart and soul. But we’re so disconnected from ourselves, running around as we are like hamsters on a wheel, to even notice how miserable we are. Chris was a sensitive soul, who yearned for more than his parents. At the same time, he was strong. He had integrated both the masculine and feminine, thus moving past orange, and probably also green (which is generally very feminine).

I think what I’m trying to say is that we need to integrate the masculine and feminine forces in nature and ourselves to achieve happiness and our continued survival as a species. We need to achieve harmony with the soil that supports us instead of seeing it as something to be mastered and harvested. That I think would be the way we need to take into the future.

Yes, you will have to watch this movie!

Eivind

I’m gonna have to watch this movie!