[Brain Damage]

He didn't have to get out of the Pit. He could have stayed and died there, and at first, that's exactly what he wanted, even asking the doctors to let him die.

By the time Bruce climbed out of the pit he had made the choice to keep on living. You cannot fear death if you do not have the will to live, and Bruce needed to fear death to climb out of the pit. Thus, mathematicians will tell us, Bruce wanted to live.