There are a lot of extreme sportsmen in the world today, in all kinds of different sports. From surfing to skiing, to snowboarding, to mountain biking, racing of all types, whatever. Most of them are in young bodies, and for the really sincere ones, that’s what they do, that’s their life, what they do in life.
And their basic philosophy of life is, “We only have one life. We are put on this planet, we have this life to enjoy, that’s why we are here, to enjoy. And therefore we should use our life to the fullest. Don’t waste time in jobs.” What they consider a complete waste of time is doing anything other than skiing, for instance. “It is a waste of time.” So they dedicate their life to this philosophy, this is their philosophy, you see.
And they are trying their hardest to get maximum enjoyment from this activity. And so, as with everything material, what you used to do gets not as exciting as it used to be. They’re getting bored. The same experience that used to be so exciting is now boring so they have to take it to another level, more dangerous, more intense. “Oh, now this is giving me my adrenaline rush, an experience of happiness.” But that gets boring, too.
That’s why all these sports have gone completely off the scale, because people pursuing happiness are going further and further and further in their extremity. Of course, along with this comes, you know, closer and closer to death, and that’s exciting, too. ‘Conquer your fear’ is another of their philosophies.
– Are you afraid?
– Yes. But I have to conquer my fear!
And when they do, that gives them some ‘juice’ also.
So this is their life. Many die along the way. “But it was worth it.” All those who talk about them, the ones that didn’t die yet, they go, “Oh, glorious death! He died doing what he loved.” That makes it OK (laughs). “He didn’t die of a heart attack at work. He didn’t die doing what he didn’t want to do.”(laughs) So they have this whole philosophy of life, but it is all wrong, it doesn’t work.
So many of these guys that are famous, they are dead now. And it is not over, their life is not over. They just destroyed that body along the way and now they are somewhere else, in another body or in between bodies. Somewhere in there, either between bodies or in another body. And according to their karma that they created, they are having to experience the results of that, dealing with that.
For a materialist who doesn’t know any of this truth, this all seems like very worthy, very worthwhile. “Wow, I wish I could live my life like that. And I got a life: four kids and a job, and I don’t have any ability anyway. It would be nice if I could…” So that is the material vision, the material view.