"This story just felt so hungry..."

Sean Penn directed the movie "Into the Wild", a project he worked on for nearly a decade. He was quoted as saying; "This story just felt so hungry to be made into a movie". Even though there were roadblocks (obtaining the movie rights) along the way, he also said; "I always felt, one way or another, it was going to happen".

So what is it, in my life or your life, that feels so hungry that it can't not happen? What is it that even knowing there will be obstacles and roadblocks along the way, that we no will happen? That we know must happen?

Into the Wild was inspired by the true story of Christopher McCandless. Christopher was an Emory University graduate who set out on a quest to Alaska. He traveled across the United States from West Virginia searching for a meaningful and authentic life. Abandoning his money, possessions, family and a conventional lifestyle, he moved from state to state with the ultimate "North" destination as his guiding star.

Along the way he meets many interesting people, including Ron Franz, an aging widower. Ron has a small workshop where he does leather work. He teaches Christopher how to do leather engraving. One of the scenes that I found striking was the one where Christopher shows Ron the belt he has engraved. The engraving chronicles his travels, depicting the various places he has been from the grain fields of South Dakota, the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, etc.

That got me to thinking about what I would engrave on a similar belt. Where are the most defining places I've been - the places that have made me who I am today, left a lasting impact in terms of their beauty...? What events of my life, both the difficult ones and the peak moments, would I choose to represent on the leather?

One of the quotes from the movie that captured my attention was when Christopher said to Ron; "The core of man's spirit comes from new experiences". Another one was a quote by Henry David Thoreau that seemed to impact Christopher's philosophy of life; "Rather than love, then money, than fame, give me truth".

Eckhart Tolle says it this way in his book "A New Earth":

"Space consciousness represents not only freedom from ego, but also from dependency on the things of this world, from materialism and materiality. It is the spiritual dimension which alone can give transcendent and true meaning to this world.

The sound track of the movie, especially the instrumental songs, also moved me. It reminded me of a CD I picked up while traveling to the Burlington, Vermont marathon several years ago. My friend Diana and I listened to what we referred to as our "traveling music" as we drove through the Green Mountains.

So there is this yearning for traveling, for new experiences, new sights, freedom from conventionality that is within me. Perhaps that is why the movie appealed to me so much. A quote by Tolstoy used in the movie says it like this:

"I have lived through much and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet, secluded life in the country with the possibility of being useful to people..."

(In case you haven't figured it out, Into the Wild was the movie I watched this past weekend while riding my bike on the trainer.)