Help understanding one of Chris's quotes.

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Kevin
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:12 am

Help understanding one of Chris's quotes.

Postby Kevin » Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:38 am

"Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you."

-Chris Mccandless

Ever since reading Into The Wild, I always found myself returning back to this quote and trying to understand what Chris meant. From what I get from it, its basically that people should not let beliefs in fate (circumstance:A condition or fact that determines or must be considered in the determining of a course of action, a modifying or influencing factor.) rule their life, people have the ability to rule their OWN life and make their own decisions, the things you do, the places you go, the people you meet, the events you participate in, are what make up your life and give meaning to your life ("It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.").

"it is how one relates to a situation that has value."
In the simplest of terms, does he mean that it is how a person feels about something that has value? And that this personalized feeling has true value, while circumstance has no value because it is just some sort of condition or fact that determines a course of action and has no meaning in itself?

For example if someone is born into a poor family, some may say that poverty is a circumstance which will dictate someones life and the decisions they make, the people they meet, the places they go, etc. However I believe that Chris would argue that the circumstance of his being poor has no value, it is how that person relates to their situation that has value. But what does he mean by how that person relates? Can relates be synonymous with how one feels about a situation and acts upon it, therefore choosing their own path in life?

Does he mean that it is how one chooses (relates) to live his life (situation) that has value?

Then he also states that "All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.", is he saying that all true meaning is dictated by how someone feels about something (a phenomenon), what it personally means to that person?

Keep in mind that he wrote this quote after the moose incident, in which he shot a moose but failed to preserve it properly.

So with that, I wonder if by saying that "circumstance has no value" he was referring to how the circumstances which led to the moose being infested by maggots (i.e., alaskan weather versus south dakota weather, misinformation about preserving meat in alaska) had no value, that it was how he related to the moose being wasted that had true value.

Basically the question I'm asking is what did Chris mean by this quote? and what did this quote mean to Chris? I know that we will never know, but the least we can do is try to understand him.

Thanks for the help!

GoNorth
Posts: 259
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 3:47 pm

Re: Help understanding one of Chris's quotes.

Postby GoNorth » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:32 am

I would simply say: Most important is not WHAT you experience, but HOW you experience it.

Moose200x
Posts: 19
Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 7:53 am

Re: Help understanding one of Chris's quotes.

Postby Moose200x » Sat Mar 16, 2013 10:33 am

A 450 pound man and a 150 pound man are walking downtown. They come to a steep hill. The thin man briskly walks up as if there was no incline at all while the fat man labors behind him. When they reach the top the fat man is grasping his side and choking for air. He says to his buddy between gasps "I can't believe I did it" to which the thin man replies "It was only one hill".

I still remember that hill and he has long since forgotten.

I feel Chris is saying that you must find the joy in the challenge that you face. While one man saw that road as merely a hill another experienced a truly deep spiritual moment within himself. The hill was the same length for both yet neither one shared the others view point. Circumstance, in this case, was the road was and always will be 1 mile. The true distance is all up to the person doing the walking.

I hope that makes sense.


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