Risk-taking as a personality quality is the ability, under conditions of uncertainty, to adequately assess the probable danger and make a choice of rational behavior leading to the achievement of goals and fulfillment of intentions - success.
A new Russian in church asks the priest: “Father, do you think the Lord will forgive me all my sins if I donate a million bucks to you now?” “I can’t guarantee you this one hundred percent, my son, but it seems to me that this is exactly the case when you need to take a risk!”
Opponents of reasonable risk-taking love jokes like: “He who doesn’t take risks doesn’t take painkillers and doesn’t go to jail,” that “risk is like trying to fart while having diarrhea,” that “a justifiable risk is when you stole a million dollars and you were acquitted.” . There is such a joke: - Dad, what is a noble risk? - A noble risk is when you come close to a hungry crocodile with a steak, counting on the fact that he has brains. - What is an ignoble risk? — An ignoble risk is when you come close to a hungry crocodile with a berdanka, counting on the fact that he has no brains.
Whatever jokes there are about risk, he himself does not like jokes. Several ancient words from different European languages claim the right to be called the source of origin of the term “risk”: the Italian word “risicare”, meaning “to dare”, “to dare”; the Greek word “ridsikon”, “ridsa” - “rock”, “cliff” (literally, to go around a rock, a cliff); the French word “risque” - risky, doubtful; the word "rescum" is from Latin, meaning unpredictability, danger, or that which destroys. The semantic load of these words can be divided into two components: the beginning of the process and incomplete confidence in a successful result.
Different encyclopedic sources also interpret the term “risk” differently. Thus, the Russian language dictionary by S.I. Ozhegov. defines risk as “possible danger”, “action at random in the hope of a happy outcome.” In the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language V.I. Dahl. As a description of the term “risk,” synonyms are given: courage, boldness, determination, enterprise, acting at random, at random, and is illustrated by the proverbs: “Risk is a noble cause,” “there is no business without risk.” In the Big Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language, “risk” is defined as “an action at random that requires courage, fearlessness, in the hope of a happy outcome.” In Europe, already in the Middle Ages, the term “risk” was used in connection with navigation and maritime trade. Sailors meant by risk the potential danger to their ships from the elements and pirates. Adam Smith and other English-speaking scientists often used the word “hazard” to denote risky actions. The term “risk” began to be used in the twenties of the nineteenth century when conducting insurance operations and only in the twentieth century it became firmly entrenched in scientific literature and economic life.
The genesis of scientific knowledge about risk developed in stages. As the nature of production relations prevailing in society becomes more complex and, consequently, the economic interests of members of society become increasingly intertwined, the uncertainty and variability of socio-economic relations dynamically increases. The probabilistic nature of these relationships, coupled with natural collisions and unforeseen accidents of technical and technological processes, creates a fertile objective basis for the existence of risks. The multifaceted nature of risk predetermined the interest in it in most areas of knowledge. Initially, the risk came under the close attention of special sections of mathematics, logic, statistics, law, insurance practice, the functioning of exchanges, etc. Subsequently, the area of risk extends to the theory of probability, games, operations, decision making, psychology and other disciplines. At the present stage, the category of “risk” is becoming an object of interdisciplinary research that goes beyond the scope of individual sciences. Scientists are making “Herculean efforts” to uncover the secrets of risk in economic, technical, sociological, psychological and other areas of human knowledge.
Reasonable risk taking is an adequate human response to the uncertainty of the world. She is brave, tenacious and sociable. This is an undoubted dignity of the individual. The word “reasonable” is used only to enhance understanding of the positive aspects of risk taking. There is no such thing as unnecessary, unreasonable risk taking. Risk-taking as a virtue can only be reasonable, otherwise we are dealing with the manifestation of other qualities - adventurism, projectism, excessive ambition, gambling, greed and, finally, banal stupidity. There is a fine line between riskiness and other distorted personality traits disguised as it: if you track the risks incorrectly, make the wrong decision, and this action can be interpreted not as riskiness, but as a manifestation of imprudence coupled with greed and stupidity. For example, a person took his hard-earned money to a construction company in order to “make money” from the difference in the cost of housing. She went bankrupt. His actions cannot be called risky. This is a clear manifestation of greed, stupidity and thoughtlessness. Or, a person deposited money in a bank, and the bank burst. You need to blame not riskiness, but your rashness, carelessness, greed and stupidity. Risk is a precise calculation. As in the sapper business, if everything goes well, you are a sapper, and if not, then bloody pieces of the body. It’s the same when dealing with risks, it worked out, which means you are a risk taker, if it didn’t work out - choose the exact definition for yourself - a fool, a projector, a greedy person, an adventurer, a self-seeker, etc.
Taking risks means adequately assessing the situation and making a decision that leads to success. A person is given the freedom to choose how to react to a life situation. There is a temporary space during which it can respond correctly to the pathogen. A fraudulent bank is a stimulant, the mind is an organ that allows you to correctly respond to its inviting speeches about high rates on deposits. Taking risks means acting according to reason. If you have entered into an agreement with this bank, it means that you have succumbed to feelings, emotions, and the coveted calls of your mind, dreaming of a “freebie”.
Life is saturated with risks, and those who spend their whole lives just preparing to live miss opportunities to become happy. Risk should be understood not as a threat, danger and damage, but as an opportunity, a path to success, a rational way to achieve important life goals, an ideal way to get rid of fear. The wise minnow of Saltykov-Shchedrin shook all his life: “He lived and trembled - that’s all. Even now: death is on his nose, and he is still trembling, he doesn’t know why. In his hole it is dark, cramped, there is nowhere to turn, not a ray of sunlight can look in, and there is no smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, exhausted, useless to anyone, lies and waits: when, finally, will starvation finally free him from a useless existence?
Why is the lack of intelligent risk-taking dangerous? A person who does not want to take risks sets low goals for himself. And low goals mean ruined health. Why? Reasonable risk-taking frees a person from fear. Fear, as we know, devours a person and leads to a cascade of all kinds of serious diseases. Unrepressed fear, hidden inside, can hang in a person in the form of anger, hatred, rancor, and guilt. These “branches” of fear will sooner or later block the access of the sun’s rays with their ominous shadow and destroy human health.
Reasonable risk-taking presupposes the clear setting of goals that are slightly higher than a person’s capabilities or usual experience. It involves weighing the pros and cons, all the pros and cons, going through different scenarios, anticipating the worst case scenario and wondering if you can live with it. Reasonable risk taking can be represented as a process that sequentially goes through the following stages: identification of risks; assessing the consequences of risks; making decisions on control actions.
It should be noted that male nature is focused on success and without reasonable risk-taking it cannot be fully realized. The same nature forces a man to do everything flawlessly. Therefore, there is fear in a man: “If I do something flawed or unpredictable, people will laugh at me, and even worse, my wife. It's better not to take risks. I'll bring my wife a bouquet of flowers and I'll look like a fool. I haven’t given it to him for so many years, but now he brought it. She will most likely say, “What? Your mistress didn’t show up for a date?” No, it’s not worth the risk.”
Stas Yankovsky said: “If people didn’t like to take risks, they wouldn’t.” For example, a husband who has never been interested in his wife’s inner life thinks: “Suppose I ask her what I would like to know, what are you thinking about, what worries you, what are you worried about? And she will probably answer: “Have you joined a sect? Are you okay? Nothing hurts? Surely he will say so, and laugh, and continue to mock, I’d better not take risks, I’ll have dinner and go to bed.”
Whoever does not use the services of reasonable risk-taking risks everything. A person living in a comfort zone is capable of only minimal risks. Hence the routine of existence, routine, boredom, lack of any motivation and, as a result, depression. This is what life without intelligent risk-taking means. Prosperous developed countries, such as Sweden, have the highest number of suicides. Everything is there - high wages, social security, a good pension, free education and medicine, in a word, there is no room for risks, which leads to sad statistics. Yakov Krotov writes: “Life is not about excluding the incredible, the doubtful, the uncertain from one’s existence. Life is about, if possible, determining the degree of uncertainty or simply remembering that everything we see is only an appearance, and talking to the visible and the invisible, the clear and the vague. To speak, not to talk. Ask, listen, touch, expose your sides to someone else’s hands. Yes, this is a risky business and it is better to drink less champagne and take more risks, but whoever does not take risks and does not allow others to take risks is a dead man with a 99.9 percent probability.”
Julius Caesar had the only person and friend he trusted - his doctor. Moreover, if he was sick, he took medicine only when the doctor gave it to him with his own hand. One day, when Caesar was not feeling well, he received an anonymous note: “Fear your closest friend, your doctor. He wants to poison you!” And after a while the doctor came and gave Caesar some medicine. He gave the note he had received to his friend and, while he was reading, drank the medicinal mixture to the last drop. The friend froze in horror: “Lord, how could you drink what I gave you after what you read?” Caesar replied: “It is better to die than to doubt your friend!”
All spiritual traditions are supportive of smart risk-taking. It is enough to recall the parable of Jesus Christ about the talents (Matthew 25). The worthless slave, not wanting to take risks, buried his talents in the ground and did not increase them. It is said about him: “Throw the worthless slave into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Having said this, he exclaimed: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!” The rest, not afraid to take risks, multiplied their talents: “for to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” Of course, risk is present in any activity, in any area of life. But a person is endowed with intelligence to be able to identify risks and understand their degree in certain situations.
The commander led his troops along a difficult path and convinced the soldiers not to be afraid of difficulties. Suddenly one of the soldiers said to him: “Mr. Commander, you are on a horse, but we have to walk, so it’s much more difficult for us.” The commander jumped off his horse and offered him his seat. Before the soldier had time to mount his horse, a stray bullet killed him, then the commander said to the soldiers: “You see, the higher the place, the riskier it is.” And he got on the horse again.
Petr Kovalev 2013
They say that risk is a noble thing. For the sake of risk, a person is ready to sacrifice everything, including his life. From the point of view of the instinct of self-preservation and common sense, such behavior is inexplicable.
Beginnings
Ancient people, in search of food and shelter, always exposed themselves to mortal danger. As a result, the average life expectancy was less than thirty years. Even the Romans, at the dawn of their empire, rarely lived to be forty. Despite this, they were motivated to take risks, otherwise they would face hunger and cold. The stronger and brighter were the positive emotions when achieving the goal. Thus, in ancient times, taking risks was taken for granted. Of course, all this was imprinted on the human genome over millions of years of prehistoric eras.
3200% profit
When trade-monetary relations were formed, the risk began to be paid for in specie. For example, the book Nathaniel's Nutmeg tells the story of a West Indian company that supplied nutmeg to England from the Indonesian islands. Giles Milton described in detail the mortal dangers to which Dutch sailors were exposed. He cited heartbreaking stories of real people, in particular sailors, who fell into the hands of local cannibals. Or how entire ship crews agonized over terrible diseases. At the same time, Giles Milton noted that anyone who goes to the island of Java can find himself in the place of the unfortunate people from his book. That is why the cost of risk was expressed in a markup of 3200%. At first, such a margin shocked buyers, but after reading Milton’s book in full, the indignation of buyers quickly faded away, and the number of applicants in the Dutch company increased sharply. Like, if you really take mortal risks, then only for a lot of money.
Taking risks out of ignorance
At the beginning of the twentieth century, risk, from a certain abstraction that combines the adventurism of adventurers and the reward in the form of success, acquired scientific, or rather philosophical, contours. So in 1921, the American financier Frank Knight summarized the relationship between the ambiguity of decision making and the result obtained. “Risk is the degree of unpredictability of movement towards a clear goal,” argued Frank Knight, “for example, fixed-interest bonds can bring significantly less profit than stocks, although both papers are aimed at profitability. At the same time, these financial instruments are focused on money in any case. The difference is that low-risk bonds generate low margins, while stocks, on the contrary, can make the owner rich, or can bring him bankruptcy. So, newcomers to the stock market almost always buy shares and most often burn out.”
Ultimately, Frank Knight began to evaluate risk in terms of probability. Despite the controversial nature of his statements, the financier cited numerous examples from personal practice. For example, there are four balls in a bag, one white and three black. If a person knows about this, then he says in advance that he will take out the white ball with a 25% probability. If he is in the dark, he thinks that he can equally get both a white and a black ball. In other words, a less informed person takes more risks.
Russian roulette
In Tsarist Russia, it was fashionable for young officers to take risks. When in 1870, military personnel of the noble class began to be armed with Smith and Wesson revolvers, the noble offspring immediately came up with “Russian roulette.”
“It was shameful to be branded a coward,” recalled Oryol landowner Stanislav Rimsky, “that is why we proved to each other that we were not afraid of anyone, not even death. To do this, they took turns spinning a drum, the chambers of which contained only one cartridge, and brought it to their temple. Then they pulled the trigger. In our circles it was a general madness. Young women adored such daredevils.” In exactly the same way, on the third attempt, Vladimir Mayakovsky passed away, although the gun was aimed not at his head, but at his chest. Thus, many people take risks to gain attention.
Physiology
Scientists studying the mechanism of emotion formation believe that under stressful conditions the mechanism of overcompensation is triggered. Simply put, the worse your soul is, the more you want something so special. This passionate desire is signaled by physiological systems, including hormonal ones.
According to Dr. Skinner, humans have a biological mechanism that distinguishes between “bad” and “good.” If an individual experiences negative emotions, he extrapolates his future in bright colors, so much so that the instinct of self-preservation is dulled. “Emotional arousal plays an important role in overcoming conservatism and stereotypical reactions,” wrote Russian psychophysiologist academician Pavel Simonov. In other words, risk is a response to dissatisfaction with the current situation. If this is so, then we are at risk when we are dissatisfied with our lives.
Risk is the possible danger of something, failure in action, the likelihood of damage or loss; it is human action under conditions of uncertainty. Risk means “cliff” in Spanish and “sheer cliff” in Portuguese.
It is human nature to take risks: gambling, sports, lottery, business, entrepreneurship. Sociologists believe that in the conditions of modern society, the risk factor in the life of all humanity, and not just an individual, is increasing. This phenomenon is called the “universalization of risk”, since global problems have arisen in the modern world: the threat of nuclear war, environmental disaster. “Globalization of risk” means that risk is acquiring an extraordinary scope, affecting large numbers of people (for example, financial markets reacting to changes in the political situation on a global scale; military conflicts). “Institutionalization of risk” is associated with the emergence of organizations that accept risk as a principle of their activities (investment markets or exchanges, gambling, sports, insurance).
Risk can be justified (reasonable) and adventurous (gambling). Reasonable risk is based on calculation. The degree of risk can be calculated by weighing the chances (opportunities) for success and failure. The utility of winning must prevail (be greater) than the danger of losing. In this understanding, “risk is a normal line of behavior in an environment of uncertainty. Here courage is not an adventure, and caution is not reinsurance.”
Risk factors are divided into global and professional. Each profession has a certain amount of risk. The lowest risk is in the clothing, footwear, textile, food and paper industries, higher in the chemical, transport, construction, and agriculture industries. Particularly dangerous professions, for example, include the work of steeplejacks (10 times higher than the acceptable level of risk), test pilots (40 times higher), and fighter pilots (65 times higher).
Although it is human nature to take risks, only his reasonable, bold actions can be considered justified. To achieve success, it is useful to remember the general rules of good work. The ability to overcome fear of the unknown and danger is the key to a person being more capable of decisive and even risky actions. Cowardice is the inability to overcome fear. The moral philosopher B. Gracian wrote: “failure to cope with a task is a lesser disaster than indecision...”, a person must be decisive. Theophrastus, Aristotle's successor at the Athens Lyceum, described the behavior of a coward. Theophrastus believed that cowardice is mental weakness, expressed in the inability to resist fear.
They storm mountain peaks, travel alone around the world, and cross oceans. What makes extreme adventure seekers play with death?
Hardly a week goes by without someone attempting something new - with an oar in their hands, in the basket of a hot air balloon, on a sheer cliff. Risking their own lives, both men and women challenge the elements. Who are they - conquerors of the useless or explorers of the limits accessible to man? What are these people trying to prove to themselves, and at the same time to us, dancing on the edge of the abyss in a world where public consciousness has proclaimed safety as perhaps the main life value? “We have become ossified in immobility, locked ourselves in four walls, in everyday life we are almost we don’t have to go through dangerous situations, and therefore we lack incentives to move,” says Valery Rozov, two-time world champion in parachuting, master of sports in mountaineering. In the last few years, he has become seriously interested in base jumping, the youngest among extreme sports. At first glance, his technique is simple: jump from a cliff, spread your arms and open your parachute... just before landing. The severity of the experience is guaranteed: even the most desperate people experience fear of jumping, and accidents are far from uncommon.
Valery Rozov, 41 years old, base jumper
“I like to do something that no one has ever done before, that you yourself thought was impossible just yesterday.”
CONQUER THE MOTHER... AND THE WHOLE WORLD
The child sets off on his first dangerous expedition the moment he climbs out of the crib on his own to explore the space of the room. His thirst for knowledge is so great that he overcomes his doubts and fears, continuing his journey and thus gaining self-confidence. What about an adult? Is it really necessary for us, in order to explore the boundaries of the possible, to find guidelines in the world around us, to take risks, to test our strength over and over again? “The pleasure is in accomplishing something that only yesterday seemed impossible to me. To do something that no one else can do,” confirms 41-year-old Valery Rozov. Rise the highest, fly the fastest, become a bird, a fish, a wave... “Extreme experiences provide a unique opportunity to know yourself,” explains Jungian psychoanalyst Stanislav Raevsky. “To understand how you differ from others, to find something that can give meaning to your existence anew.”
"By taking risks, we tame death"
We asked psychotherapist Vladimir Baskakov* to tell us what the phenomenon of risk appetite is.
Psychologies: What motivates those who like to take risks?
Vladimir Baskakov: The first reason is a lack of strong impressions. Our society still lives according to patriarchal laws: act, achieve, win. This shows up in everything. If it’s news, it’s definitely about explosions, murders, conflicts. If it’s a movie, then it’s about sizzling passion. And the person feels deceived: since there are no such strong emotions in my life, then it’s as if I’m not living at all. And there is a desire to change the situation, to do something out of the ordinary. The second reason is the need to tame death. A person exposes himself to mortal danger, but remains alive. He convinces himself and others that he is in control of what is happening.
Who becomes a seeker of extreme experiences?
It seems to me that these are the people whose personality Carl Gustav Jung defined “as a rational, thinking type.” Education is aimed primarily at developing intelligence. As a result, those who are naturally inclined towards a rational type of thinking almost completely lose contact with their body and feelings. To break through to them, super-strong impressions are needed. Therefore, people of a rational, thinking type most often fall into this trap. Extreme activities for such people are one of the few ways to feel their integrity.
* PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN ASSOCIATION OF BODY THERAPY, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF BODY THERAPY. AUTHOR OF THE BOOK “FREE BODY” (INSTITUT OF GENERAL HUMANITIES RESEARCH, 2001).
However, people who regularly and consciously expose themselves to risk are driven not only by a thirst for knowledge. “Like a five-year-old child at the peak of the Oedipus complex, they do not give up trying to conquer their mother and thereby the world in general,” reflects psychoanalyst Andrei Rossokhin. From the point of view of the French psychotherapist Michael Balint, the desire to take risks is an individual reaction to the traumatic experience of birth - a kind of protective strategy, the essence of which is “to anticipate and tease dangers, thereby paradoxically insuring oneself against them.”
Austro-American psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut offers another explanation: having been expelled from the comfort of his mother’s womb, the future extreme sportsman develops a hypertrophied ego, which allows him to overcome the feeling of his own powerlessness and abandonment. He is forced to constantly prove to himself: I’m really good, I’m really worth something. His motto is “Weak?..”, and the only price for acquiring self-respect is constant risk and testing oneself. “These actions are very similar to narcissistic admiration,” explains Andrei Rossokhin. – A person who experienced a lack of love in childhood unconsciously constantly and by any means strives to confirm his worth. In this way he fills the emptiness that lives in his soul.”
Sigmund Freud would certainly have seen the love of risk as a manifestation of sexuality - all extreme people talk about the excitement, pleasure, ecstasy, dizziness they experience at peak moments. “Minutes of dissolution in the ocean... The feelings you experience are akin to sexual ecstasy: tenderness, lightness, pleasure...” agrees Yulia Petrik. Eight years ago, at the age of 26, she was the first in Russia to start free diving - “free diving”: without scuba gear and a mask, Yulia descends into the ocean to a depth of over 40 meters.
BREAKING BEYOND BARRIERS
A person seeking strong emotions is suffocating in a society that every day more and more resembles a huge supermarket. We try to strictly follow the established routine, we are afraid of “falling out of the loop” and, even completely tired of the mechanical monotony of our own lives, we do not leave the distance: what if we cannot return later? “Reliable investments, pensions, guarantees, a multi-stage career, life insurance, etc. – initially all this was invented by man in order to make life easier, free the spirit and create more opportunities for a carefree life,” explains existential psychotherapist Svetlana Krivtsova . – But the same reasonable and useful things become a heavy burden as soon as our life becomes centered around the fear of losing them. And extreme sports provide an opportunity to break out of routine and relieve the tension in which we live.”
“Since childhood, I wanted to be different from everyone else,” says Valery Rozov, “it was important for me to live differently from others. And now I don’t sit in the office from nine to six and I’m not at home for six months. Often I have nothing to talk about with ordinary people: they are not interested in my topics, and I am not interested in theirs. But this is the kind of life I like.”
Ilya Novikov, 32 years old, traveler
“I think extreme sports provide a unique opportunity to meet yourself. Only alone with the elements can I do this for real.”
Irresistible attraction
“I met Tom Stone, an American traveler who was preparing to hike from Moscow to Sakhalin,” says 32-year-old Ilya Novikov, traveler and mountaineer. “At some point I felt that at any cost I had to go with him. I had a feeling that it was on this that the rest of my life would turn out.” “I was already an experienced skydiver when I saw footage of a man jumping from a cliff in the mountains. This sight amazed me so much that I decided to definitely try the same thing,” recalls Valery Rozov.
Such a sudden impulse, spontaneously flaring passion is most often accompanied by the feeling “I can do this” and even more - “I don’t care.” Obsessed with the idea of realizing what is planned, a person subordinates himself entirely to this idea and achieves the desired result. The need to experience this sweet feeling again and again becomes a habit. “To interrupt a sequence of jumps, flights or dives without any particularly compelling reason means to experience severe frustration, which leads to inexplicable anxiety, gives rise to a feeling of hopelessness and often ends in depression,” explains Andrei Rossokhin.
SURVIVE BY AWAKENING ALL THE SENSES
Each of those who have connected their lives with a risky hobby, as a rule, sooner or later finds themselves in a situation where the danger is too great to survive. “In such moments there is no time to think, you act in accordance with the first internal impulse,” says Ilya Novikov. In 2002, during a winter climb to Elbrus, a group of climbers got caught in a thundercloud. “Lightning struck right around us, at any second everyone could turn into ember,” continues Ilya. – At such moments you are completely dependent on the elements. And you survive if you can pull yourself together and at the same time, as it were, dissolve in nature, become part of it.”
Yulia Petrik, 34 years old, free diver
“At the depths, I feel that I am absolutely happy: peace, delight - what I have been looking for all my life.”
Free diver Yulia Petrik suffered a burst eardrum during a competition at a depth of 50 meters: “When this happens in water, a person completely loses orientation. I didn’t understand where was up and where was down. The only thing I could do was concentrate and, without thinking, with some sixth sense “grope” for a way out to the surface,” she recalls.
“My parachute did not open, and there was very little left to the ground,” says Valery Rozov. “There was a feeling that my eyes and face were burning, and at that moment I seemed to see my thought: “Well, that’s it, I’m finished.” I don’t remember what I did, how I grouped, turned over, but the parachute opened and I landed safely. But for a few more days, it seems, I could touch this thought of death with my hands.”
Clarity of thought in the midst of chaos, effort on the edge of the possible, resistance to doubt and the desire to retreat - in extreme moments a person is capable of physical and mental reactions that affect himself. “This special state of consciousness allows you to use forces that you did not even suspect,” explains Svetlana Krivtsova. “A person feels as if he is penetrating into a new, untouched world, becoming one with the earth and sky in their most beautiful manifestation...” “I had no idea how much I could withstand,” says Yulia Petrik. “I overcame fear, was able to control my body, and now I know that it is impossible to subjugate the ocean - you can only understand it and live according to its laws.” These words can be called the motto of all those who deal with the elements.
REWARDED BY ECSTASIS
“I think that extreme sports provides the main thing - a unique opportunity to meet yourself. To do this, you need to climb as high as possible, dive as deep as possible, fly as far as possible. And all this is to look into your soul. Only alone with the elements can I do this for real,” says Ilya Novikov. “At great depths, every time I feel that I am absolutely happy. This is happiness, peace, delight. This is what I have been looking for all my life,” continues Yulia Petrik. Sports achievements, awards and titles are just a side effect of the all-consuming desire to experience a feeling of ecstasy and merging with the elements. “At this moment, a person experiences an unusually strong feeling of closeness to himself, agreement, unity with himself,” says Svetlana Krivtsova. “This feeling is so strong that it poses the threat of addiction.” “In modern society, such adventures replace the initiation rites that existed in ancient cultures. And there is nothing wrong with extreme hobbies, if the activities are well organized and because of them, families do not collapse and other areas of life do not suffer,” adds Stanislav Raevsky.
Nadezhda Khramova, 26 years old, climber
“The mountains taught me trust. You can’t go with a person you can’t completely rely on.”
FIND YOUR TRUTH
Among the extreme sports enthusiasts there are engineers and bankers, journalists and photographers, biologists and managers... All these are people who are quite established in society, but as soon as they lose contact with unbridled primitive instincts, they are overcome by boredom. None of them denies that they are flirting with forces that defy moral assessment. They all know that their lives depend on a wave, on a crack in a rock, on a sudden lightning strike. What does a person get in the end when he chooses his own path and follows it in spite of everything?
“The mountains taught me trust: it is impossible to go together with a person on whom you cannot completely rely,” says 26-year-old climber Nadezhda Khramova. She started with solo hiking trips in the Sayan taiga, and now she always goes to the mountains twice a year. “I learned the value of everything I left on solid ground. I felt free and now I can choose,” says Yulia Petrik.
Living in the present, being in agreement with the laws of the universe and in harmony with other people is the lot of those who have overcome their doubts and fears. This overcoming becomes an initiation for them, a kind of powerful version of Zen practice, and on this path they seek their place in the world and their truth.
The connection between pleasure and pain
“Pleasure is a reaction to the pain and fear experienced,” says psychophysiologist Chingiz Izmailov*. All our emotions and feelings are polar: pleasure - displeasure, calm - excitement, pleasure - suffering. Their interaction can be compared to the movement of a swing: when one emotion “flies up,” the other, its opposite, “fades away.” The point here is this: an increase in the level of adrenaline in the blood affects the functioning of certain cells of the nervous system, which leads to a feeling of fear and pain. A decrease in its level affects other cells, and the person experiences the opposite reaction - pleasure. In a word, when pain and fear pass, we feel pleasure, pleasure. It is in this sequence: pleasure in an extreme situation arises exclusively in response to the fear and pain experienced.
*PROFESSOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY, Moscow State University. M. V. LOMONOSOV, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY.