Bret Marfut Turner's communitas reading

I have always loved the feeling of togetherness that accompanies hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail and the other areas where I have hiked or camped throughout my life. I have noticed before that something about being in the outdoors makes it a lot easier to communicate with people. On the street, if I were to simply walk up to someone and talk to them, they would probably be very suspicious of my motives, and at least be very confused. However, if I come to a campsite on the Appalachian Trail and see someone resting in one of the shelters, it is not only normal, but expected that I go over and strike up a conversation. In Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, I was interested to read about a term for this phenomenon: Communitas. According to the book, social structure is stripped away in the wilderness. Expectations become different, and people become much more open, humble, and genuine. This leads directly to communitas, a relationship that develops between people in a liminal state like the one induced by the wilderness. Communitas is a pure, basic communication between people. Turner goes so far as to call it a social antistructure, in that it strips away many of the folkways so deeply instilled by society. Turner speaks of the importance of communitas in spirituality, literature, and drama, among others, but also says that it is not well studied. According to the book, communitas occurs in the marginal areas of society. It makes sense than that it would be so easy to experience on places like the Appalachian Trail, where mental separation from society is supplemented by a physical removal from civilization. I think that this also says something about the influence that society has over us as individuals. If the best place for a true, genuine relationship is completely removed from society, something must be wrong with society.