How Will Smith conquered his fear — by leaping into the Grand Canyon
'Courage only exists in the presence of fear,' says author Emelia Sam
Celebrity Will Smith faced his fear of the Grand Canyon up close on Tuesday, when he hurled himself out of a helicopter on a bungee cord for his 50th birthday.
The jump was a challenge guided by a group called Yes Theory, in an effort to confront a fear Smith has held onto since he was a child.
To author Emelia Sam, Smith displayed courage by facing his fears head-on, challenging the notion of courage as the absence of fear.
"Courage requires fear. We like to say that people who are fearless are courageous, and that's not true. Courage only exists in the presence of fear," she told The Current's guest host Piya Chattopadhyay.
Listen to Yes Theory co-founder Matt Dajer tell Piya Chattopadhyay how he got Smith to agree to the Grand Canyon jump.
Growing up, the author of I haven't found myself but I'm still looking said she felt inadequate when she felt moments of fear. She described it as a result of the cultural narrative that associates fear with weakness.
Now, rather than trying to eliminate fear, Sam embraces it.
"Fear is instructive," she said.
Controlling fear
Stephen Maren, who studies the neurobiology of emotional learning and memory, warns that facing one's fears can sometimes be harmful.
The distinguished professor of psychology and brain science at Texas A&M University told Chattopadhyay the control over setting is paramount.
He explained that clinical studies in which subjects interact with threats and objects that elicit fear are conducted in a safe setting with the support of therapists.
The setting for Smith's bungee jump, meanwhile, were far from clinical.
"I'm not sure that jumping out of a helicopter over the Grand Canyon is necessarily fairly controlled and you'd have to do that probably many, many times to really overcome the fear," Maren said.
"There's all sorts of ways to do this either with mental imagery, virtual reality and so forth that might promote better and more adaptive fear reduction than going out and seeking all of the things that really you fear in the world."
Listen to the full discussion near the top of this page.
Produced by Allie Jaynes and Danielle Carr.