Transcendentalism is a philosophy which says that in order to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience. “I Now Walk Into the Wild” by Chip Brown tells the story of Chris McCandless, a young man who believed in nonconformity and risk-taking, and his journey to “kill the false being within.” Chris was an incredibly hard-working and strong-willed person. McCandless kicked off his transcendental lifestyle on his high school cross country team by taking off on runs with one purpose: to get lost. During his early years of college, he developed a mental list of possessions deemed unnecessary. When senior year finally rolled around, Chris departed with all of the items on this list. He moved to a smaller room, put his mattress on the floor, used very little technology, and hardly ever went out with friends. As a lost hurrah before heading off on his last journey, Chris set fire to the last of his money. Renaming himself Alexander Supertramp, he embarked on a finale of ultimate proportions. Chris McCandless embodied the transcendentalist attitude through nonconformity, risk-taking, and …show more content…
He discovered these answers by secluding himself from society and spending months alone with nature. Chris despised all things materialistic, and his parents lived a materialistic lifestyle that he just could not bear to be apart of. He found himself at his happiest when rolling through life with only the bare necessities. Chris thrived on the power he received from living life with less, or as he called it, the euphoria of dispossession. Finally, Chris believed that bliss was achieved by searching for and determining the meaning of life. Although he died at such a young age of 24, Chris McCandless’s expeditions allowed him to gain the experiences of a