Sharing Happiness with those that can share it too...

[Magic Bus Girl]

I've watched the Movie "Into The Wild" many times & have read most that has been written about this young Man & his life's journey. I disagree with most of what's been written, as to the possible meanings of his words. "HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED".

I do not believe as many have shared, that he had some great awakening, there at his lonely end & grieved with remorse & full of regrets for having wandered totally away from his Parents, any sadness he may of caused them by his leaving, or that he never would see them again.

He broke free of the invisible chains that emotionally bound him up. The one's he felt his Parent's & then society placed on him & went on to find his own way. The same, but not the same (way) as we all do, in our own individual lifetimes. He stepped out of the safety & confines of "the box", "the cage" & unfurled his own set of beautiful wings. And he took flight "Into (his own) Wild"...

He met along the way, "His People" as I refer to them. The "Hippies", "free Spirits", "Gypsies" the Vagabonds (great word, look it up) of the World. The ones he (could) share & (openly) enjoy his & their happiness with.

No judgement in any direction, just a simple acceptance without question. He was Loveable at face value. Tattered clothes, dirty face & finger nails, his only belongings on his back. His only gifts, his words & actions. And that was clearly enough, for those that spent time with him... They valued the gift that he was.

He clearly was capable of leaving any written word, he had so chosen. If he felt remorse & a personal need, he would have left an apology note directly to his Parents & Sister. This (I believe) was not any over site on his part, nor was there, some criptic message he wove into that "Happiness" quote, hinting at feelings of wrong doing, on his part towards them.

Those that call him "selfish" are only saying, "stop being selfish & take care of my selfish needs"... Enough with that word!

I heard it, I got it, I felt it... "Happiness is only real when shared", with those that can share & feel it too... "shared" meaning the flow of back & forth. He found what he was looking for indeed!

Peace, Lola

[Davebmiller]

Nice one lola, that's the reality of the matter. There is something romantic about taking yourself out of your comfort zone, on your own, as an experience. I am from the Uk, and currently travelling alone across the US, very much inspired by chris McCandless, and really enjoying every second of it. I plan to return home with photos and tales to tell my friends.
Enjoy the surf!

[Kindred spirits]

"HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED"

Possible meanings ? There is only one possible meaning to the statement, the obvious one - you can't be happy on your own. The veracity of the statement itself is debatable, certainly Buddha would disagree ... but that's besides the point.

And he found what he was looking for ? What, a slow wasting death, alone in the wilderness ? There is nothing 'romantic' about running away from the world, completely unprepared, to punish your parents and all of those who "don't understand". It's sad. His story is sad and tragic, not romantic. Have you read the book ? Only some of it is about Chris. It's a book about similar, unhappy, disconnected young men who ran away from their lives hoping to find peace and happiness in the wild. Almost to a man, they were very troubled individuals, completely unprepared to survive on their own, brainwashed almost, by authors who would have almost certainly died in similar circumstances. Chris had no common sense, his boss at the corn mill (a far more intelligent man) talking about the chicken in the microwave is a good example. It's the "romantic" illusion that causes many men like Chris to lose their lives.

[GoNorth]

"HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED"

Possible meanings ? There is only one possible meaning to the statement, the obvious one - you can't be happy on your own. The veracity of the statement itself is debatable, ...

I have been thinking about this statement pretty much as well, after seeing the film several times (I had read the book already in 1997 and have recently re-read it).

I don't think the interpretation is that easy. I mean many people certainly suppose that these words as well as the marked passage in the Tolstoi book about family happiness means that Chris was "finally" ready to integrate into SOCIETY, and be happy as a kind and "normal" citizen for the rest of his life...
Ok, perhaps he actually dreamt about something like that, I also suppose he did, after several months in complete loneliness and in rather bad shape, that seems quite natural. But that doesn't mean that he would really have been ready to practize this, if he had got back to civilization. I can imagine that he would soon have felt a similar need to break away for a while again.
But of course, none of us will ever know the whole truth.
Another interpretation of the word "shared" might be, that all the adventures you can live, you want to tell someone about them sooner or later. It can be very fulfilling to be all on your own for a certain time, once in a while, but not permanently, because you want to talk to other people about your experiences, at least write to them (even that Chris couldn't do any more from the bus), this can also be meant by "shared". (I am thinking like that because I also enjoy solo trips - of course not even close to Chris' trip in terms of risks - and there are many things that I could definitely not enjoy in the same way if there was someone else by my side; I would even say that the happiest and most intense moments I have known so far were in complete solitude; but I also feel a strong need to tell people about this later, show them fotos and so on)
But here again: we'll never know how this particular guy felt about that.

[Mint]

"Happiness only real when shared" was taken from Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, a book McCandless took to Alaska:

"And so it seemed that the only real way of living was to live like everyone else, to be lost in other people's lives without leaving a trace, and that an unshared happiness was not happiness."

The context is that Yury, the main character (Doctor Zhivago), and his wife, son and friends are enjoying a rare of feast of duck and vodka during a time of great poverty hunger in Moscow. Yury is haunted by the fact that no one else in the city will be eating duck and vodka and most are probably extremely hungry: "as for game and vodka, people had forgotten even to think about such things."

I'm pretty sure this was the last book McCandless ever read. I have read it again and again - it is such a great book. I brought it from a charity shop after remembering it from the movie, Into The Wild. It's now my favourite book, I highly recommend you read it.
After reading Doctor Zhivago, I began to read other books by authors that were mentioned in Into The Wild - Tolstoy, Thoreau, London... and now I am a great fan of Russian literature in particular! I have a lot to thank McCandless for!
As well as Doctor Zhivago, I recommend War and Peace and The Cossacks by Tolstoy as essential reading.

Below are some more extracts from Doctor Zhivago:

"The silliness of the one was matched by the hypocrisy of the others and Yury was sickened by the torrent of their words, dull, unnecessary, such as are rejected by life itself.
How intense can be the longing to escape from the emptiness and dullness of human verbosity, to take refuge in nature, apparently so inarticulate, or in the wordlessness of long, grinding labour, of sound sleep, of true music, or of a human understanding rendered speechless by emotion!"

"Oh, how sweet it was to be alive! How good to be alive and to love life! And how he longed to thank life, thank existence itself, directly, face to face, to thank life in person."

"I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and isn't of much value. Life hasn't revealed it's beauty to them."

[Sarvesh]

Happiness is only real when shared.....
i really admire these lines but what happen when you are the only person to be with.No friends to share your happiness.
What happen then when no one understand you no one really care who you are and what you feel.
Sometimes i feel to go to Wild for making myself happy.
After seeing this movie i realize i wanted to some something like this Before this movie arrived.
But what happen When i Died there ...Will Anyone really care..??

[Bgreen]

i believe he found true happieness on the bus in his own way, he was a hero to many men that work meaningless jobs in cubicles day in and day out and will always be a true inspiration to me.