Ah yes the age old abyss metaphor.
The seeker embraces the terror of the abyss while common man spends his life retreating from it.
The greeks revelled in this idea. It's the thousand yard stare. Hendrix "have you been experienced" yadda yadda.
Nietzschein "The birth of tragedy"
Nietzsche found in classical Athenian tragedy an art form that transcended the pessimism and nihilism of a fundamentally meaningless world. The Greek spectators, by looking into the abyss of human suffering and affirming it, passionately and joyously affirmed the meaning of their own existence. They knew themselves to be infinitely more than petty individuals, finding self-affirmation not in another life, not in a world to come, but in the terror and ecstasy alike celebrated in the performance of tragedies.
In a nutshell man finds his character by putting away silly self deception and facing the yawning darkness of the abyss.
You are nothing until you realize that you are nothing. Far out man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L92V-YwjHfs&list=PLoeN4PJN1ADuuTNjOgLxr5Z7ovpNhPCPX