# I want to jump. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2000, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457 "2000-06-25T07:08:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457/1 "2000-06-25T07:08:42Z")
Well, not _really_ jump, but… I’ve been reading _Hannibal_, Thomas Harris’ sequel to _Silence of the Lambs_. Pretty good, so far. Anyway, Clarice Starling is in the basement of Lecter’s now defunct asylum when she ponders her desire to go into his old cell. she compares this to the desire to jump from a balcony. Well, I’ve had that feeling too. And so have some other people I’ve talked to. Not a desire to die, or get hurt, or even to fall, but an urge to just _jump_. It usually comes on when standing someplace really high, like on a balcony, or at an overlook at the Grand Canyon. Especially with nothing in front of me. Remember jumping from trees and roofs and such when you were a kid? It’s like that. Only now you don’t really jump. 🙂 I **know** that there are a lot of people out there who know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s a dangerous, dizzy feeling. But not a real desire. I/we don’t actually **want** to jump. So, my question is; What does it mean? A desire to fly? Freedom? What? A symptom of vertigo, maybe? Peace, mangeorge (Not crazy) ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457/2 "2000-06-25T07:24:08Z")
I know what you mean. I get the same feeling. I think you pretty much got the reasons down. It’s a feeling of wanting to fly. And of freedom. Man, I love the feeling of standing on the beach at night in the summertime, with like a 30 mph wind blowing, right before a storm hits. It’s exhilarating. Almost like you’re not connected to the ground. One time I was talking to a guy I know who was an ex-heroin addict/ex-Army Airborne Soldier. (Currently a drug rehab counselor.) He told me the only high better than heroin was jumping out of a plane. I’ve been meaning to get to a skydiving school for quite a while now. ---
**Author:** ![mazirian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@mazirian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazirian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457/3 "2000-06-25T07:50:53Z")
And I thought I was the only one… I used to have nightmares about falling as a kid and I didn’t like high places. Now, I love tall buildings and glass-walled elevators. And I want to take the leap… I have named it “call of the deep.” All my friends think I’m crazy, I’m glad to find there are others. Skydiving seems to be the easiest and cheapest (not to mention non-lethal) way to fulfill this desire. If I just remeber to pull the cord… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457/4 "2000-06-25T08:15:55Z")
I also know what you mean. It’s a very bizarre feeling, and when I think about it, I feel confused. Why would I want to jump off this cliff in the South Dakota Badlands, when I do not want to die? How strange. MY theory is it may have something to do with gravity. Gravity may be telling our brains that it is above level ground, and our brain may be using this odd sensation to convince us to come down from whatever height were on. That’s just a 3:15a.m. beer buzzed theory though. Anyway, you’re not the only one to experience this. ---
**Author:** ![InsanityIncarnate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7cd45c/32.png) [@InsanityIncarnate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsanityIncarnate)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457/5 "2000-06-25T09:47:36Z")
From the reference at the beginning though it sounds like more what it was originally talking about had nothing nothing to do with the fac that it was jumping. It was more of a risk thing. In the jumping case a risk that would kill you but te reaction happens in ither risk situations. Haven’t you ever gotten that impulse to do something that you know you shouldn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Gatsby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@Gatsby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatsby)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2000, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-jump/23457/6 "2000-06-25T10:04:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > From the reference at the beginning though it sounds like more what it was originally talking about had nothing nothing to do with the fac that it was jumping. It was more of a risk thing. In the jumping case a risk that would kill you but te reaction happens in ither risk situations. Haven’t you ever gotten that impulse to do something that you know you shouldn’t? > \*\* InsanityIncarnate, By all means, jump.