OntosScience

Picture above is Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa). Picture below is Mt Blanca (Bolivia).

Not everyone climbs mountains, however stories of climbing adventures provide insight into the adventure of life that we all share: overcoming obstacles in life and reaching out to something bigger and higher than immediate daily activities. History and psychology indicate that this is a strong human need that includes having a sense of meaning and purpose.  Mountains can symbolize obstacles in meeting these needs, and experiences in climbing mountains provide a vehicle both actually and figuratively for exploring mechanisms and impacts involved. The book begins with a personal experience climbing Mount Fuji that nearly ended in disaster, with the question of why people do such things.  Subsequent chapters alternate between mountain climbing experiences and research results about why people pursue difficult tasks.  A bottom-up approach supports 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 belief in a higher transcendent realm while also having enough doubt about its nature or validity to pursue a quest for ultimate reality despite the great paradox.

Picture above is Mt Aconcagua (Argentina).

Robert Wheeler developed a keen interest in the view people have about meaning and purpose in their lives during 20 years of military experience working with people of various cultures as an infantryman, aviator, engineer, advisor, and research & development coordinator. His last assignment before retiring was Chief of the Foreign Technology Office at the U.S. Army Aviation Systems Command. For another 20 years, he filled positions at St Louis University to include Director of Health Promotion Research and adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology. His major work was research about personality characteristics that contribute to health, well-being, and performance. He also developed measuring instruments and performed analyses for health promotion programs from a didactic viewpoint to assist participants, from an evaluation viewpoint to determine effectiveness, and from a research viewpoint to increase knowledge of health enhancement and quality of life improvement.

Now retired, his current work is with spirituality as a personality characteristic and its role in human nature and health. In 2014 he set a new Guinness World Book Record as the oldest man to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. He was planning to climbing again in 2019 to celebrate a 90th birthday but that was overruled by a heart attack. He did make it to Pulpit Rock in Pennsylvania for that occassion.

Picture above is Humphreys Peak (Arizona).

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Questions about the book or mountain climbing?  Please feel free to post a comment on my Blog page or email Robert at OntosScience here.