Peak-Of-The-Mountain Fallacy

2D thinking

Photo by Sebastian Schuster on Unsplash

Usually, when we think of summiting a mountain, we don’t envision a 3D physical feature. It’s often in 2D.

When you picture yourself climbing a mountain, you only see one side of it. The climb tends to follow a path. And when at the peak, we tend to believe we have conquered the mountain.

Far from the truth.

Getting to the top does not mean you have conquered the mountain. You have only used a particular path to get to the top. The mountain is a 3D physical feature with parts that a summiter does not know, nor knows exist.

When one thinks of a mountain in totality, a summit is only a string. There are vegetations, animals, unpredictable weather. The effort it takes to summit a mountain should be a lesson in humility. A single string of a path is difficult enough. The entire mountain is nearly impossible. Thus, anyone who summits a mountain is witness to the obstacle a single path offers.

But no, we have never conquered any mountain.