The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo.
What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.