This is a perceptive analysis most would not think of, that there could be faulty thinking involved and a kind of reckless disregard for safety and common sense when one puts one’s life at risk for the sake of a thrill, physically, like jumping out of an airplane and delaying the opening of a parachute for the longest possible time, or doing rock climbing without safety equipment as a backup should you lose your grip and fall. We do not judge, so such choices are up to the individual, totally, but we would see things from our broad perspective and depth of experience where individuals take huge risks for the excitement of it as being a kind of folly. Life can be shortened when there are accidents and we see there is much tragedy in losing one’s life unnecessarily. We would rather people take reasonable precautions to keep their life going without inordinate risks so they gain the most from each outing. It is often those with a kind of denial of danger who engage in such activities. There is always a happy medium where one can take on challenges of many kinds, including extremes of environment and great physical demands on stamina and endurance, but do so intelligently with some due regard for the risks and to avail oneself of planning, preparation, safety measures to forestall the worst of possible outcomes, and so forth, as being prudent.
Again, to risk one’s life by taking risks for the thrill of it is done more in service to the ego as a kind of self-indulgence that is often a consequence of suppressing the normal checks and balances through what a normal person would find triggers fear within as a brake on risky behavior. And when this is suppressed, are indulging in an ego that is outsized and becomes a kind of folly, and by putting their life on the line, they are gaining ego gratification that seems to put them above others by demonstrating bravery and a mastery of particular circumstances that makes them special. When, in fact, they may only be lucky and not deserving of praise at all if they are, in effect, showing off and risking something quite precious that would far exceed the ego gratification they might get from taking such risks if, in the end, they lose everything from an untimely death—that is not wisdom on display but a kind of self-delusion.
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