Does How a (Sailplane) Pilot Thinks, Matter?

I think that it is ironic that we as CFI's are tasked with turning the "fear and anxiety" bit into what I would call "healthy respect" so that real learning can take place. But in the process of beating the fear out of (or shall I say, selling safety to?) the student we abstract out a real and potentially life-saving emotion which may be the only thing keeping an otherwise competent pilot from his own demise.

I raised this at a seminar once when someone was describing a pre-flight student simulating a spin/crash on Condor. In a hall full of 150 people and many CFI's in attendance I asked "but did the student realize that at this point he is dead?" I only got silence and blank stares in response.