A question...
Does anyone ever get that odd compulsion to jump when up high, or faced with fast-moving traffic?

I'm by no means suicidal... just wondering if anyone knows what I mean.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 9:35, 22 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I'm tempted to jump
you.
( Bert Monkeysex is waiting for the mods to delete him, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 9:38, Reply)

Yeah...
I find it worst when I'm in the Underground, and the train pulls in.
( Cawl, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 9:41, Reply)

I've had that one a few times Kaol
I'd never do it, but I'm intrigued by the feeling.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 9:54, Reply)

Yeah...
I don't think I'd do it.
I mean, if I was gonna off myself, I'd wanna take quite a few people with me.
( Cawl, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 9:55, Reply)

Or at least
become Breaking News first.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:00, Reply)

quite the opposite
when i'm up high i have to hold onto something, anything, out fear that i'll trip or stumble, and fall off. even if there is no way it could happen
( mictoboy shitting in your cunt since, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:05, Reply)

Yep
But I'm also with Mictoboy. The older I get, the more scared I get of heights. But that doesn't entirely eliminate the curiosity about what it'd be like to jump.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:13, Reply)

Meeeeeeeeee
Also when viewing something violently dangerous, like a mechanical lathe, I have a real urge to stick my fingers in.


This urge got my fingers burnt when as a child I decided to touch the base of a frying pan.

/Not dangerous enough for qotw
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:23, Reply)

Yes!
I get this all the time.

No I'm not suicidal.

No I'm not depressed (much).

It's just the knowledge that I *could* do it, if I wanted to.

Anyone often wonder what would happen if you pushed someone under the approaching train instead of jumping yourself?

Anyone?

No?

Erm, me neither.
(Shippy likes linebreaks and doesn't care what you think, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:27, Reply)

It's fairly common
If I remember correctly then to do with your mind being aware of the danger and releasing small amounts of adrenaline. Then if we consiously think about it then we get a boost of adrenalin. Which gives us a buzz.
Basically you're tricking your mind into producing more adrenalin, it's not anything to do with wanting to hurt yourself.
(PsychoChomp, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:38, Reply)

Hah!
Kevin McCloud's just mentioned a compulsion to jump while climbing the Forth Rail Bridge :)

Chomp - a realistic explanation.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 10:42, Reply)

Yup.
Ditto to trains, Tube, cliffs, tall buildings ect. According to Existentialism it's because we're faced with a real actual choice - and the vauge fear and such is the angst from such a choice.
(Fredz A graveyard of hopes, a dump of ambition, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 11:16, Reply)

Not tempted to jump... but strongly tempted to push... and dont be thinking I dont know your bald spot No3L...
( enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 11:22, Reply)

I think I read somewhere
That it's because we humans tend to imagine things before they happen, so that we can plan ahead. You're not actualy thinking of jumping, it's just you are imagining what it would be like to jump.... Not honestly sure which I find more compelling, this explaination or the Existentialist one
(Fredz A graveyard of hopes, a dump of ambition, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 11:26, Reply)

Mime
My bald spot or my blind spot?

*chuckles*
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 11:33, Reply)

Fredz is pretty much spot on
Everyone experiences it, it's part of acknowledging that the environment could kill you, if you let it. I guess that's part of realising that you are a finite physical being.
( Labia Majora You keep on talking but it makes no sense at all, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 11:43, Reply)

@Fredz
I fear your understanding of existentialism may be lacking something...

:)
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 12:52, Reply)

@Enzyme
I was massively oversimplifying things... And to be fair, I studied Existentialism a while back... Basicaly I beleive that Sartre at one point in one of his texts refers to a feeling of anxiety and such at a cliff edge, and attributes it to the fact that at that point he is faced with a very real choice, as opposed to most choices that we apparently make - either to jump off or not - and this choice would have a very real effect on the progress of his life. Given that this is in essence a true existential choice - the anxiety he atrributed to existential angst - the fear of making such a choice for good or ill. Meh. I might be wrong in my understanding. As I said, It's been a while and it wasn't exactly a major point in my study
(Fredz A graveyard of hopes, a dump of ambition, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 13:29, Reply)

@Fredz
Yeah. You're kind of on the right lines with Sartre - the problem, really, is that Sartre is only the most famous existentialist. His radical choice stuff... meh. Just doesn't do it for me...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 14:42, Reply)

I know what you mean
I also have compulsions of career or friendship suicide, like "I wonder what my boss would do if I just punched him in the face now" and "I wonder what my friend would do if I told her she was boring me to death".
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 15:34, Reply)

@Enzyme
Figures I guess. It's a fascinating field of philosophy. Of the existentialists, I'm afraid I've only realy read Sartre or De Beovior. Apparently humanist psychology, I.E Carl Rogers ect. takes a lot from existentialism too.
(Fredz A graveyard of hopes, a dump of ambition, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 16:33, Reply)

Dunno
Not read Rogers - or heard of him. Sartre claimed that he was a humanist, to be sure... but the real intellectual fireworks comes with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger. To the extent that they were existentialists, they weren't humanists at all. Even Camus wouldn't really fit in that category.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 13 Feb 2009, 20:58, Reply)