As humans, we make choices every single day from the moment we wake up each morning. Some of these choices do not seem to affect our lives with much significance, such as what we choose to eat for breakfast. On the other hand, some may change our lives forever, like deciding where to attend college. The choices we make lead to the experiences we have. The texts of Antigone, Saint Augustine: Of Choice and Free Will and Into the Wild contain instances of decisions that led to experiences, which result in the realization of what is deemed right and good in life. To determine what is right and good in life, a person must experience the wrong and bad in order to differentiate and truly achieve what is right and good based upon knowledge from these
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Throughout Augustine and Evodius’s conversation, it is understood that evil has “two senses: one, of doing evil, and the other, of suffering evil” while God is not the cause of doing evil (Augustine 35). Having God not being the cause of doing evil and only suffering evil, there must be another source as, “ there is no single cause, but everyone who does wrong if the cause of his own wrongdoing” (Augustine, 35). Due to this, as individuals we are responsible for our own misdeeds. This concept has lead to the establishment of laws, which are created in order to prevent something that is already wrong such as adultery, murder and sacrilege (Augustine, 39). It is human nature to sin and it is hoped that knowledge is gained from those experiences in order to later establish a better decision.. Despite this, “evil deeds are always evil because they are done through passion, that is, through a blameworthy desire” (Augustine 43). In life, these particular desires pertain to the temporal and eternal laws. The temporal law describes those who are wrongly attached to the temporal goods: physical beauty, wealth, health, fame and any other possessions that can be taken away against …show more content…
Growing up, Chris’s family held the consumerist objects that would make any family seem happy such as their large house and boat. These objects served as a mask, as the occurrences behind closed doors revealed the McCandless family were not as happy as they claimed to look. During a twisted turn of events, he discovered that his father had been essentially leading a “double life”, having an entire family in another location. This traumatic experience “made his ‘entire childhood feel like fiction’” (Krakauer, 123). Even as a university graduate and incredible athlete, Chris decided that his severed childhood combined with society’s materialistic values did not hold what he wanted in this life. He proceeded to leave all temporal goods behind; his car, money, and any other societal-binding possessions that may link him back to Chris McCandless, as he changed his identity to Alexander Supertramp. Even though he passed away once reaching his destination, Chris still chose to do this and had a great passion for it as he states, “I’m not a destitute. I’m living like this by choice” (Krakauer, 51). Similar to Augustine, Chris realized that living life with an excess of temporal goods brings nothing to man but misfortune. He states in a letter, “The
Throughout Augustine and Evodius’s conversation, it is understood that evil has “two senses: one, of doing evil, and the other, of suffering evil” while God is not the cause of doing evil (Augustine 35). Having God not being the cause of doing evil and only suffering evil, there must be another source as, “ there is no single cause, but everyone who does wrong if the cause of his own wrongdoing” (Augustine, 35). Due to this, as individuals we are responsible for our own misdeeds. This concept has lead to the establishment of laws, which are created in order to prevent something that is already wrong such as adultery, murder and sacrilege (Augustine, 39). It is human nature to sin and it is hoped that knowledge is gained from those experiences in order to later establish a better decision.. Despite this, “evil deeds are always evil because they are done through passion, that is, through a blameworthy desire” (Augustine 43). In life, these particular desires pertain to the temporal and eternal laws. The temporal law describes those who are wrongly attached to the temporal goods: physical beauty, wealth, health, fame and any other possessions that can be taken away against …show more content…
Growing up, Chris’s family held the consumerist objects that would make any family seem happy such as their large house and boat. These objects served as a mask, as the occurrences behind closed doors revealed the McCandless family were not as happy as they claimed to look. During a twisted turn of events, he discovered that his father had been essentially leading a “double life”, having an entire family in another location. This traumatic experience “made his ‘entire childhood feel like fiction’” (Krakauer, 123). Even as a university graduate and incredible athlete, Chris decided that his severed childhood combined with society’s materialistic values did not hold what he wanted in this life. He proceeded to leave all temporal goods behind; his car, money, and any other societal-binding possessions that may link him back to Chris McCandless, as he changed his identity to Alexander Supertramp. Even though he passed away once reaching his destination, Chris still chose to do this and had a great passion for it as he states, “I’m not a destitute. I’m living like this by choice” (Krakauer, 51). Similar to Augustine, Chris realized that living life with an excess of temporal goods brings nothing to man but misfortune. He states in a letter, “The