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