Why do we need Everest?

“Why has he even gone there?” - a frequent commentary on news about climbers, divers or circumnavigators.

Well, you see, there is such a thing as Eternity in the mountains, the ocean and the sky ... When you see the elements live, face to face, and not on a safe computer screen, you feel its strength, how old it is, and how very small and funny you are here, along with your biography, plans and suffering. And at the same time, something begins to pulsate inside you that you have never noticed before in yourself, some pure light of infinite time. And you see that this pure, radiant Eternity is in you too, and in the person next to you, and in everybody, without exception.

You suddenly realize that you have always been and will always exist.  Your biography, problems, grievances and all other nonsense are just dust on the divine mirror of your immortality. And, going down from shining peaks over and over, you learn to see - through this dust, through dark glasses and windows of cars - the shining light of Eternity in each passer-by.

Ultimately, when the last lines of your biography are erased, Eternity remembers only one thing - the moments of pure joy and infinite love of life experienced by you when you climbed to one of its peaks, or descended to a new depth.

You see ... We do this not to learn new things, but not to forget the main thing.