You must have heard about William Randolph Hearst, the great newspaper tycoon. He is an example. He tried through power and wealth to build a wall between himself and the human condition. A fairyland world was constructed on his orders where the mention of death was prohibited, and everything was arranged to create the illusion that life would never end. Hearst, in his later years, showed himself to be a weakling and a fool – naturally, because he avoided life to avoid death. He remained stupid.
You will remain stupid if you avoid the real human situation. Whatsoever it contains, whatsoever is implied in it, has to be encountered, has to be lived through. That is the only way to go beyond it.
Given the human reality, the only alternative to courage is a flight from reality. That's how escapism arises. Millions of people have been escaping to the monasteries, to the Himalayas, to the caves.
Why? – to avoid life so that they can avoid death. Millions of people have been searching for immortality, hoping that there must be some way to become immortals.