GoNorth wrote:@bobenns: Very well written!
McCandless used the word "God" several times, so he must have had some faith of that kind.
Personally, I don't believe in any God(s) at all, but I respect people being religious or superstitious or whatever they want, as long as they don't bother me or cause any kind of damage to their environment.
(I however believe in some kind of natural forces, but that's another topic)
Its a personal thing. At 15 I was a very troubled young man, in a lot of trouble on a daily basis, at school, at home, with the police. I used to go to place called the cliffs. A rock bluff along the north flowing Kapuskasing River a couple of miles out of town. Had to cross a creek and walk a riverside trail to get there. Those Northern Ontario trails have a flavor of their own. I would sit on top of the bluff and take in the landscape. Not a single man made object in sight, sky extending to the horizon in every direction, you could see a mile or more down the river. There was something powerful in the landscape, wind and sky, trees and forest, river and red granite, an immense silence other than the sounds of nature, I felt close to the life force there. I felt a part of a living world, a natural world, I felt inner peace. Later I realized that what I was experiencing was my own spirituality. To this day I still feel a profound sense of peace and connected to the life force when I get to places like that. I don't feel that way in town, I have to get out into the wilderness to feel alive.
My mother had her own faith. She believed in God, she believed in doing right. She didn't preach it, she practiced it. When her time came she faced it without fear. She had a faith that worked for her in her life. I don't have her faith, I have my own, but I respect people who have faith and live by it. Its a beautiful thing.