CLIMBING HIGHER IBD

Sinopse

Not áeveryone climb mountains, however ástories of climbing adventures provide insight into the adventure of life that we all áshare: overcoming áobstacles áand áreaching áout áto ásomething ábigger and higher than immediate daily activities. History and psychology indicateá thatá this is a strong human need that includes having a sense of meaning and purpose. Mountains can symbolize obstacles in meeting these needs, and áexperiences in climbing ámountains áprovide áa ávehicle áboth áactually and áfiguratively for exploring mechanisms and áimpacts involved.The ábook ábegins with a personal experience climbing Mount Fuji áthat ánearly áended áin ádisaster, áwith áthe question of why people ádo ásuch things. Subsequent chapters alternate between mountain climbing experiences and research results about why people pursue difficult átasks. A bottom-up approach ásupports culminating proposals of spirituality as a universal personality trait, nognosticism that recognizes knowledge is limited, ecumenical humanism for religious tolerance, and the philosophy of pragmatic pluralism. For life to be meaningful and manageable, people need a sense of purpose and coherence that is best met by having ábelief áin a higher transcendent realm while also having enough doubt about its nature or validity to pursue a quest áfor ultimate reality despite the great paradox. á