Characters
Man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.
— Lou Mannheim ‧ Wall Street
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker suggests that when someone confronts the abyss, nothing looks back at them; there is no hostile force, only emptiness. In that confrontation a person discovers their own character, and it is that character, rather than any outside power, that keeps them from falling in.
Context reviewed