The Seductive Spiral of "More"

The mountain stands indifferent. Snow-capped and ancient, it waits for those who dare approach. Not as conquest, but as teacher.

Jon Krakauer, the mountaineer whose words have captured both the majesty and danger of high places, once wrote something that pierced me like an ice pick:

"A climber has to keep upping the ante. The next climb has to be harder and more spectacular than the last. It becomes an ever-tightening spiral; eventually you're not up to the challenge anymore."

There it is. The trap that catches not just climbers, but all of us. The ever-tightening spiral.