The meaning of life has always been unknown and something that people spend a lot of time trying to figure out, many have dedicated their lives to this search. In each of the four readings that we have examined so far there is a connection in the general themes of the stories, this connection is a need to escape the everyday world and find a place of peace where they can examine the meaning of life in close detail. In each story the author is attempting to find this meaning by telling their story, where can a soul flight or escape from reality be found in each of the stories?
Each one of the readings have some very big similarities between one another, the author or character in each story is attempting to find themselves by escaping their everyday routine and searching for meaning in there lives. This seems to be very apparent in “Into the Wild” when Chris McCandless leaves his comfort zone and ventures out alone into the Alaskan wilderness with very few supplies. This adventure is a soul flight that was very needed in his life because he had always been sheltered growing up. Even though he lost his life on this adventure he needed to experience what it was like to live with nature and has made quite possibly the most famous soul flight story in history.
In Wallace Stevens “The poem that took the place of a mountain” he leaves the business world where everything is relatively straight forward and escapes into his writing by going to the top of a mountain. He decides to go to the top of the mountain because it is so far away from everything else and he is able to be by himself and ponder the meaning of life. At the top of the mountain nothing else matters, he can escape all his other problems and simply be alone with his thoughts. This is indeed his soul fight because he is able to leave everything else behind, if only for a short time, and figure out what really matters to him.
In Jorge Luis Borges “The Circular Ruins” and “Break of Day” he is trying to explain what it means to him to escape reality, or really what reality actually is. It seems apparent in these two writings that reality is nothing more then dreaming, we cover up reality with our dreams in an attempt to escape what reality truly is. We carry on with our lives in almost a daze not truly knowing what life actually is and have no idea how to escape it. This idea of life is an interesting but somewhat depressing way of looking at life. If we don’t know reality from dreams then there is no way of escaping reality and will therefore be stuck until death.
Everyone attempts to find out the true meaning of life and what it is they are actually meant to do while still here on earth, this search is carried out differently by everyone but has the same general goal in mind. Some escape from reality completely and go venturing off by themselves, some write about where they would like to be and others simply daze off, trying to forget about the everyday hassles of life. It is important to find out which soul flight works best for you and how you can clear your mind, even if only for a short time.