Reflections: What is a bridge?

Upon Westminster Bridge

Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

William Wordsworth

Wordsworth’s poetic words, some of the most calming words one can ever read, capture simply but profoundly the myriad sensations we can muster upon a bridge. Upon a bridge we see with new eyes, we feel with a new consciousness. And we do so for the very first time, in part, because a bridge usually elevates us slightly allowing us to have an overview of the whole, an overview of the interconnected parts and events, an overview of the ‘where from” and the “where to”. And according to Wordsworth, the tumultuousness of our daily endeavours gives way to a certain kind of temporary peace. For the Romantic Wordsworth, who did not know of our buzzling hyper-active metropolis, the view from the bridge opened the world in a unique manner. What is so unique? It is difficult to express. Perhaps this is why we need poets to do so. Let us try. Primarily, uniqueness stems from the fact that from the bridge we can see what otherwise would remain disconnected. If it were not for the bridge, thanks to which we can go one way or the other, go to one form of life or another, these disconnected areas would remain unaware of each other’s existence (perhaps even permanently so). In this way, the bridge opens us to the world in a deeper fashion. For if before we only lived in A and could not traverse to B, now both A and B become part to the enlarged world of interconnected realities. The in-between which is the bridge makes this possible.

And some of us sense something like this when we are able to see the city over there in the distance from any of the given bridges of our lives. The city we move around robotically suddenly can be seen from afar in all its complex beauty. This is a relaxing experience. In the same vein, it is little wonder we love to look at cityscape photography. Or as Wordsworth wrote in the very same poem quoted: “dull would be he who could pass by” such a bridge and such an experience. I myself cannot just pass by. This post stems from my interest in these types of connectivity, the bridging capacity which is provided by all kinds of bridges in all their varying expanses and forms.

But to actually move slowly across a bridge; that is one of the most unique experiences we can have as humans. One feels as if part of a primordial connecting power and desire which we humans possess at our core. We feel the beginning of a voyage, a departure, and sense that there is a new and unknown destination over there, on the other side of things. Of course, sometimes bridges are small, so we actually see the other side! But we also recall how very short bridges bridge what are monstrous abysses! Sometimes it even takes time to cross a bridge, some even many minutes! In this respect, bridges also link us to our temporality: for our very lives are like bridges between our births and our deaths. And in the in-between of our lives, in that unique expanse which is living, we may actually become experts in bridging itself by reflecting on what a bridge is and does.

But this is no easy task, for as with many other over-used things of our lives, we use them and only realize what they are, what they could be and what is their essence, when they actually fail to provide the use they were intended for. Recently a bridge collapsed in Montreal killing several fellow Canadians; it was then that bridges came to our public attention. But it is not that type of attention we seek here. We wish for a reflective type of attention.

Bridges we mostly go into in order to get to our destination. Infrequently we pause to consider in wonder what a bridge actually is. Actually, more and more given our traffic realities, it is quite unsafe to even stop at a bridge! And though I could not begin to tell you how to build a bridge, I have been fascinated by their multiple forms and the underlying symbolic nature for many years. As a matter of fact, I have dedicated many years to trying to understand how one could build bridges in a metaphorical sense between diverse areas of human understanding and experience. This is in part what comes about when one purposefully seeks to become a T or Ω-kind of person who, as I have argued elsewhere, takes up a form of life in which overspecialization is moderated by a permanent Socratic search for a deeper understanding in other non-specialized areas as well. The very letter omega (Ω) is, in fact, like a bridge.

To several personal examples we shall return. But as in the construction of any bridge whatsoever, the chances of success in achieving adequate connection between the separated realms varies tremendously. For surely some destinations seem not at all interested in being connected (e.g. artists and philosophers, the rich and the poor, some brothers and sisters, or the current tension amongst different Latin-American presidents with conflicting models of what a nation is), other destinations lack the material and reflective capacity to carry out such interconnections (e.g. the learning of diverse languages or the realities of becoming a dual citizen are costly affairs), and still others are too far apart from each other to even appear in their perceptive radars (e.g., the case of the Cold War, the reality of the racist). You can also think of many other examples, I am sure much better, for each of these cases.

Also, if it were easy to set up bridges, then we would find them all around! To become a constructor of bridges thinking that interconnections are wished for by those who appear distant to each other will likely lead to a certain dislike of bridging itself. Why so? Primarily because the ——-let me invent this noun—— “bridger’ (who is much more than a civil engineer specializing in building bridges) will always feel that his/her efforts have not been acknowledged by the different parties to be interconnected. More directly and in a much simpler case. Have you ever become a mediator between two parties (two friends), naively thinking that both parties were actually interested in coming to a connective reconciliation, only to find out later on that the paths you supposedly constructed were never actually seen! And even more dramatically see in horror later on how each of the parties pulls you towards their side attempting to show how you, the bridge, have somehow betrayed their trust? Just recently a senator from Colombia was asked to mediate in the liberation of those who have been kidnapped by the infamous FARC. The whole affair ended, quite unfortunately, with her crying in a certain kind of despair on national public radio. I wish not to analyse that specific case here, but each and every “Comisionado de Paz” must be quite sure of themselves in order to be able to carry out such complex tasks. For reality shows that not all interconnections are either desirable or possible; and some —–which might be desirable—- are not desirable in the specific circumstances of a given case. No one, in their right minds, would wish to connect with Hitler. That was the difference between Churchill and Chamberlain. Chamberlain sought bridges as one should not.

I hope now you can sense why some of us are deeply interested in bridges and, more specially in bridgers. But at the same time, we seriously seek to reject a naive form of bridging which is dangerous to our very health! This is the reason why I forcefully stand against the very dangerous philosophical idea of a “fusion of horizons” a la Gadamer/Taylor, and instead more realistically consider bridging as a healthier and more prudent alternative for those who are truly interested in connecting the diverse. Fusing dangerously seeks to do away with difference, bridges connect in separation. For to bridge is pleasurable in-and-of-itself and one must seek to protect bridgers from the excesses of those parties who care little for bridges and their beautifying presence. It would be very odd that those who did not bridge actually were happier than those who risked bridging; though as things stand, the non-bridgers swear to be the happiest in their smug alleged self-sufficiency. In contrast, when you bridge you gain a dual bilingual reality even if others decide to remain monist and unilingual. To those we could apply Wordsworth’s striking words: “dull would be he who could pass by.” Many are dull and the adventure of bridging must not be tainted by such dullness.

As always, it is Aristotle who allows us to see this more clearly. When speaking of Solon in The Athenian Constitution, Aristotle reminds us how he stood firm as a bridge, rather than seek the political power he could have had if he had decided to stand either with the rich and their misguided interests and unbridging spirit, or with the poor and their misguided interests and unbridging spirit. Aristotle writes:

“for considering that he was so moderate and public-spirited in the rest of his conduct that, when he had the opportunity to reduce one of the two parties to subjection and so to be the tyrant of the city, he incurred the enmity of both and valued honour and the safety of the city more than his own aggrandizement …..” (TAC, VI, p. 25, LOEB)

For you see, bridge builders must understand one thing. They will find enemies, and they will be discouraged by threats, but the pleasure of bridge building must suffice them in order not to lose the attention required for their important task. For truly the greatest political bridge to be understood is the very gap that will forever exist as long as humans are humans between the unhealthy desires of both the poor and the rich. In this respect, Venezuelans need many Solons urgently.

Unlike the bridges of architects and civil engineers, which utterly fail if they cannot bridge the gap which they intend to close (imagine traveling to a destination and finding the bridge half built!), the bridges of reflection are much more flexible in that even if they are not fully built they still provide a certain kind of path at least for some of us. And unlike the diverse concrete bridges we see around us, they might take much more time for their construction and eventual reconstructions. They might take a life-time, actually. Even more, there is a different desire to both kinds of bridging because the bridging of reflection is generated not simply by the functional goal of connecting two separate areas, but rather, we repeat, is generated by a desire that finds pleasure precisely in the bridge itself, in the very space which the bridge permits us to traverse in such a way that the two destinations to be connected are seen in a radically new light; a light which for those who do not seek to construct bridges is never available.

Be that as it may, the most basic question regarding bridges is: What is bridge? Well, bridges do something really well, they bridge. But generally they are simply defined functionally, that is to say, their character is primarily derived from their function. So a typical definition for a bridge is: “1. A structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier, such as a river or roadway.” But this view of a bridge leaves much to be desired. Why is this so? Primarily because if you think about the bridge ONLY, or primarily, in terms of the two points/areas/cities it connects, then the bridge and its complex structure is lost to sight. The functional way of seeing things goes something like this: “Why take such and such a bridge? To get to B from A, and then later on in the day, to get back from A to B.” But you see, the faster you get to A from B, the less you will stop and actually see what the bridge does for us by means of its connecting essence. What, then, is the problem in defining the bridge primarily though its material function? Primarily that the bridge looses its own formal structure (in Aristotelian terms). A bridge works if we go through it, but rarely do we stop at the bridge. And perhaps it is stopping at bridges that our modern culture needs more than anything else. Never have we had greater capacity for building bridges, but never have we stopped less to think about them.

In contrast, there is a very special tradition in my dear Colombia which acknowledges the wonder that is a bridge. This unique and beautiful tradition is to sing the national anthem when one comes upon a bridge for the very first time. So I remember traveling around Colombia, and its breath-taking mountainous terrain, and singing out loud: ¡Oh gloria inmarcesible!Oh júbilo inmortal! ……” This action has always struck me in that it invites us to acknowledge the novelty of a first crossing, of a first encounter and the delight which is to be on a bridge, to see from a bridge, to feel on a bridge and to come from a bridge. Moreover, if one is in fact interested in the function and beauty at the core of the essence of bridges, then one always carries in one’s heart certain bridges one is unable to forget.

Personally we recall those bridges which allowed us to suspend ourselves over thin space. There is a very beautiful bridge in a very little town near La Vega, Colombia –a few hours from our admirable capital Bogota—- which I traversed frequently on foot above the Black River surrounded by hectares of sugar cane in the heat of Colombia’s equatorial reality. The river rushing past, and I suspended safely above its flowing grandeur. As a matter of fact, I remember kissing on that bridge! Do you? There is something erotic about kissing on a bridge for we sense we are bridging the other of our love. I also remember biking slowly all of Montreal’s stunning Champlain Bridge, slowly taking in the sights of what is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. To live in a city that is an island accessible only by bridges; how could not one fall in love with bridges? Then there are bridges that we have never been to, but still capture our imagination. One such bridge is the Confederation Bridge which only until recently allows for a direct and constant connection between Prince Edward Island and continental Canada. Can you imagine what a bridge like this does for the seclusion of the lives of those who are accustomed to the “disconnected” island life? Politically bridges have a unique importance as well. Perhaps you did not know this, but the liberty of Colombia at the hands of Bolivar came in a battle whose name is that of a bridge! It is “The Battle of the Bridge of Boyaca” Colombians flock to the site and are marvelled to see how so much was gained around such a small but beautiful and endearing bridge. And then there is the very famous Mostar Bridge which was destroyed by mortars in the 1990’s during the War of the Balkans. This bridge which was a World Heritage Landmark “with its pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and western European architectural features, is an outstanding example of a multicultural urban settlement. The reconstructed Old Bridge and Old City of Mostar is a symbol of reconciliation, international co-operation and of the coexistence of diverse cultural, ethnic and religious communities”. here

Psychologically, bridges also have a dark side to them. We all know that bridges are a paramount place for suicides. Why this is so, can only be left to another post, but the above notes can provide some elements for reflection. No bridge is more striking in this respect than the Golden Gate Bridge. Eric Steel’s film The Bridge is a stunning documentary which explores the mythic beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge which is the most popular suicide destination in the world “and the unfortunate souls drawn by its siren call.” (see also this article: here ) Those who throw themselves to their death from such a bridge must actually feel as another famous painter once did when he decided to paint The Scream. This other possibility is perfectly captured in the very well known painting by Edward Munch in which a kind of bridge is set against an exploding, or rather imploding landscape. Of it the artist wrote:

“I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

Finally, bridges are historically relevant as well. Recently excavation is Bogota revealed multiple bridges from the 19th century. Suddenly our love of bridges came to the fore; all construction was halted and all plans modified in order to preserve them. Unconsciously all of us sense that bridges are unique and carry a unique symbolic power which touches us at the core. We sense that bridges point to our history and the interconnections with our elders and our past. Historically it is the Rainbow Bridge which has most stunned modern scientific Westerners: ”the bridge has no piers, but giant timbers spanning the void, decorated with red paint and curved like a rainbow.” The design is neither an arch nor a beam, but rather a delicate hybrid of the two; a series of interlocking horizontal and cantilever beams form a graceful arc. It was a style never attempted in the Western world.” here There appears much is still to be bridged between East and West!

But if one is to write about bridges, just as a civil engineer must show his Resume on bridges, so the bridger must provided a Resume of the attempted bridges he has sought to construct and the results of such bridging so far. Though one has to wonder, if civil engineers study in civil engineering programs, where exactly to bridgers learn to bridge? (I am tempted to say that it is by looking primarily at some aspects of Aristotle). Leaving that question aside, here is my bridger’s resume, though of course you can imagine multiple considerations are lacking in this presentation:

I have sought to understand as teacher and translator the possible bridges between Spanish and English. I can tell immigrant students why it is that verbs like the verb “to be” seem to contract into inaudible realities. I can also tell them why ”embarrassing” and “embarazada” (in Spanish= “being pregnant”) are not equivalent, though they might sometimes go together. Likewise, I can tell English speakers how to relate to new immigrants who find themselves in a peculiar stage in their lives. Also, as an ill person I have come to better understand the possible, though very difficult, bridges between alternative and traditional western medical paradigms. For instance, part of my recovery has been done through intense research and dialogue with doctors —including bridgers like Payan and Pellegrino—- who have seen the limitations of the traditional medical paradigm from which they sprung, and thus themselves feel the need to bridge somehow in a different way with their patients. As a translator one bridges more easily the conflicting paradigms of these diverse and conflicting proponents of what well-being is. I once told a brother to read Payan in order to understand better how, if one does not change oneself, one hardly understands illness. He mocked such a proposal; little of a bridger is he. Quite dull indeed. As an artist-philosopher I have seriously sought to understand the interrelation between art and aesthetics, that its to say, that area of philosophy which reflects on art itself and its nature. In this respect , it has always been of immense interest to me to go beyond both the expressionist relativism of shallow authenticity in some modern art and also look beyond the art-lacking beauty-lacking reflection of many philosophers. And I do recall with astonishment how the faculty from which I graduated once “Philosophy and Literature” saw it fit to sever their connections into two even smaller departments in a university in which the humanities are further and further being deteriorated! As a son of parents from two different countries with two very different views of the family, I sought in life a bridge that might soften their complex interrelations. Thus I remember clearly how before my father’s death “intense negotiations” lead to my separated parents’ coming together for what was almost the very last time in which they saw together the very land they had built together and had lived under for many years before they sought their own paths. In contrast, I have a brother who never spoke to my father; little of a bridger is he. Quite dull indeed. As dual citizen of Colombia and Canada by seeking some light regarding the political and economic realities of developed countries and those of the developing countries of the “Third world”. In this respect, I have been slowly trying to understand the tension between parliamentary and presidential regimes, as well as the different advantages and disadvantages to centralist and federalist regimes under differing circumstances. Technologically speaking I have sought to construct a bridge in my application of the proprietary models of Windows/Apple (who require a bridge in and of themselves as the latest PC vs MAC commercials show so well! See for instance the absolutely amazing programs Parallels 3.0  and Fusion which allow for virtual connections between OS X and Windows)  and the admirable Linux-GNU project (and the amazing virtual connecting program called WUBI) . Materially speaking, as a citizen of my Colombia I decided to move and live at an economic level denominated strata 3 (there are six economic strata in Colombia, 6 being the richest, 1 being the poorest) in order to feel the tension between the rich and the poor in my dear Bogota. Finally, and most importantly, as an academic who has worked outside academia for many years, and who has been absolutely overwhelmed (or better, underwhelmed) by the words heard from both camps, those of philosophers who look down on the citizens, and those of citizens who look down in anger at philosophy. In contrast, I have sought to retake seriously the work of Classical Political Thought which begins by looking at political and philosophical matters from the perspective of the citizens themselves as exemplified in the works of Strauss and Pangle. Moreover, by selecting the work of philosophers who themselves have been the examples to follow in the bridging enterprise which might turn out to be our lives. This is the case of the work of Charles Taylor whose latest work A Secular Age actually has a bridge as its cover!

Many projects indeed; some have failed, others have succeed. Some are not even mentioned, for instance the bridge we seek with the divine in our lives, or the bridge towards a certain kind of androgyny as a direct rejection of machismo and radical feminism. But in each the very process of engaging in trying to bridge the diverse and conflicting has not only allowed sometimes the different parties to come to a closer understanding of their conflicting claims, but MUCH more importantly has allowed me to see more clearly those very claims in my own mind! And once the bridger bridges within himself or herself such spaces which at the start were unlikely to gather together, then for sure there ensues a sense of self-worth, self-respect, dignity and happiness that can little be rivaled. Bridging wins for us a deeper view of reality, one which can readily see the self-enclosed realms of those who know little of a bridge’s essence. In this way the very definition of a bridge as a functional structure might be opened in our imagination in order to restore for us the many other senses which a bridge has for us. Among them we find not only the bridge of a musical instrument, or the bridge of our very nose, but more fundamentally the bridge as it is used in nautical terminology: “A crosswise platform or enclosed area above the main deck of a ship from which the ship is controlled.” By opening ourselves to these diverse senses, we may best manoeuvre the paths of our lives and help others to manoeuvre theirs.

Perhaps in learning to bridge we can finally see the serene joy and calm happiness which Wordsworth saw in and through them. As he wrote decisively in his
Upon Westminster Bridge poem:

Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

Never indeed.