Posted by Joe on July 25, 2000 at 14:43:45:
There really aren’t a lot of things that frighten me. But some things do. Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge terrifies me. I don’t know why, but it does. I’m not particularly afraid of heights. I can stand on cliffs with the ocean crashing on rocks below me, I can also stand on top of skyscrapers (the Empire State Building in New York, The Space Needle in Seattle) without the least bit of fear, but for some reason walking across the Golden Gate Bridge terrifies me. (This phenomenon happens on other tall bridges also, It happened while walking across the St. Lawrence in Montreal). But this doesn’t happen while riding my bicycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. The place is still the same, rather I’m walking or riding my bike, I am still on the sidewalk at the edge of the bridge. Rationally I know that riding my bike is much more dangerous than walking, I am much more likely to lose control of my bike and fall either into traffic or off the bridge than I am when walking. But still walking across the bridge terrifies me while riding my bicycle at the same spot doesn’t. When I rode my bike across the George Washington Bridge between Manhattan & New Jersey, I felt no fear, in fact I felt the opposite, I felt exhilarated.
Now why should this be?
Perhaps because my “thinking center” is working overtime. Perhaps because I know that over a thousand people have leapt to their deaths from that bridge. Perhaps it’s the Golden Gates Bridge’s reputation (and by extension to other high bridges) that frightens me.
But then why am I unfrightened when riding my bike in the same spot, even though I know that riding my bike is actually a more dangerous situation.
Maybe, paradoxically, it is precisely because it is more dangerous that I am less frightened. When I am riding my bike my mind is busy doing what it should be doing, watching for obstructions in the pathway, concentrating on keeping my bike steady (The Golden Gate is often very windy so this is a problem) etc. etc. Fear is a luxury that I indulged in when danger is remote.
It is thinking about the situation (which I do when walking) instead of experiencing the situation (which I do when bicycling) which causes the fear. Maybe this is why the thinking triad (5-6-7) is also the triad which has the biggest problem with fear.