Pursuit of happiness - Essay Example

According Jon Krakauer, McCandless was a member of well-off family, belonging to the upper middle class who could not have possibly lacked in material provision (Krakauer, 12). However, he chose to leave this life of comfort, ventured into the wilderness and severed ties with his family immediately after his graduation, only to be discovered dead in 1992 (Krakauer, 7). Henry David Thoreau also sought to separate from the world of abundance and provision, and learnt to live a simple life and a life of self-sufficiency for a period of two years to search for essence of life (Thoreau, 2).

Therefore, the actions of these two individuals serves to show that the pursuit for happiness is characterized by separation from material provision, so that an individual can learn the essence of life outside of the comfort that is created by materiality. The materiality concept causes people to lose touch with the essence of life, rather becoming more engrossed in the accumulation of the material wealth, while failing to celebrate life itself. The tranquility of mind is a basic necessity for achieving true happiness (Pursuit-of-happiness.org, n.p.). The tranquility of mind on the other hand is achievable in a state of solitude.

Solitude as a core element of self-awareness and realization is an important component in the pursuit for happiness. The actions of the three outsiders serves to show that solitude is the fundamental step towards deep reflection of life, capable of developing the meaning of life, in a manner that social life cannot be able to do. This is because; social relationships come with responsibilities which hinders free existence and the exploration of leisure (Thoreau, 77). Therefore, it is only by managing to stay away from social relationships that an individual can manage to dream fully, experience unlimited leisure and freedom.

The same case is identifiable in the lives of both