In Search of Enduring Bridges

A Common Image

As we walk through everyday life, we walk over bridges of various types. Roads and railway tracks—the two most-used means of travel—pass through mountains, forests, countryside and cities over numerous bridges spanning over valleys, rivers, gorges and canals of various types and sizes that come their way. If we are observant enough, we would notice that there could be no road of any type without bridges.

Uneven and rough—that is the surface of earth we inhabit. We cannot level up the whole earth nor does it sound sensible to do so. Moreover even if such a dream could become a reality, it will take away all the beauty of the earth that these uneven surfaces bring. Mankind seems to have understood this simple truth long, long ago when it first discovered the idea of constructing bridges. Irrespective of the surface, rivers, mountains and even oceans, the bridge-solution has been a great aid in making travelling possible and easy. If we look upon life as a journey, accepting the presence of bridges is a natural corollary. The bridge stands as a perfect metaphor for gaining access to many other issues of life also. A bridge is a structure built over a river or a valley which allows people and vehicles to cross from one side to the other easily. As a metaphor, it means anything—an idea, a system or situation, anything—that helps to cross over any difficulty that we face.Let us begin with the nearest thing to us—our body. We may not be always aware of this but our body consists of a number of systems such as respiratory system, digestive system, circulatory system and so on. Each of these systems function within a given area of operation. They have certain limits which they are designed not to violate. But, no matter how efficient these systems may work, they cannot produce right state of health until there is some interconnectedness, interrelatedness among them.
They can work meaningfully, contributing to the state of our health, only when there is some kind of inner bridge which helps in crossing over the benefits from one system to another. In absence of this inner bridge, a living body cannot function meaningfully. The benefits of digestive system, for instance, are to be passed on the respiratory system for it to function properly, which in turn helps the digestive system to work effectively. The same holds true for all the body-functions.This internal cooperation of a living body is often made clearer through andha-pangu-nyaya or the simile of a blind and lame person. All our senses are designed to function in a particular way. They cannot go against their functional limits. Eyes cannot hear. Ears cannot touch. Skin cannot see. Though each sense organ has its limitations, it works in cooperation with others in order to be useful to us as a whole. This inner cooperation is illustrated through this simile: a lame person, having other healthy senses, was sitting in one place, immobilized by his dysfunctional legs. He wanted to visit places but his inability to walk would not allow him to fulfill his desire. One day the lame person met a blind man who had healthy legs but he had no vision to help him move freely. Thus both of them entered into a pact: the blind man agreed to carry the lame person on his shoulders. Hence the lame gained ‘legs’ and the blind obtained ‘eyes’ and they happily went wherever they wished to go. Similar is the way all our senses function—through mutual understanding and collaboration. So, right within our body exist many bridges or means of connection that help us to live and function effectively.
A Subtler Connotation
When we step into our inner world of ideas, emotions and desires, there too we find the bridge-idea playing an important role. For example, we all have certain ideas, but very often ideas do not meet our emotional loyalties. We feel that we should be truthful and kind but often our intellectual conceptions are contrary to what we feel—or vice-versa and so on. When there is some agreement in our ideas and emotions, we find our will to be too weak and incapacitated to put into practice what we think and feel. It is like getting into a boat having three boatmen, each wanting to take us in a direction he thinks fit! Most human beings, therefore, suffer from their own broken personalities. They lack integration of personality produced by the lack of unity in their thoughts, emotions and will.An inner integration is essential to make a complete, integrated personality. Building up inner bridges which would interconnect and unite these 'independent' faculties into one solid whole is the basis of having an integrated and healthy character. All healthy living involves that we have some degree of inner integration.Sri Ramakrishna called this integration as 'making one's speech and thoughts one'. A peace-chant from the Upanishad says:'May my speech be fixed in the mind. May my mind be fixed in the speech.'
Indeed a person whose mind and speech are fixed into each other is a man of integrity. To develop a character of integrity, one's life should be integrated around one's deepest convictions. This inner integrity is the source of all moral and spiritual excellences. In the absence of inner integrity, one's social or community life also disintegrates. Not only should one connect and interconnect all one's inner faculties, one should extend this idea of building enduring bridges into other areas of life as well. There is often misunderstanding and mental strife in families, communities, and other areas of group living. One of the major reasons for this is the absence of bridges of understanding and mutual cooperation. Just as we need to cross over a river or a valley which obstructs our path, we need to build up bridges of understanding with others as well. Every man is an island in himself—living his unique life experience. He or she has to emerge out of the island of existence in which he or she lives or else life will become a stinking pool of despair and constant complaints. Says the eminent social psychologist Eric Fromm:'Man is gifted with reason: he is life being aware of itself; he has awareness of himself, of his fellow man, of his past, and of the possibilities of his future. This awareness of himself as a separate entity, the awareness of own short life span, of the fact that without his will he is born and against his will he dies, that he will die before those whom he loves, or they before him, the awareness of his aloneness and separateness, of his helplessness before the forces of nature and of society, all this makes his separate, disunited existences an unbearable prison. He would become insane could he not liberate himself from this prison and reach out, unite himself in some form or other with men, with the world outside.'1 This act of uniting with others—love, in all its dimensions—is possible only if we build bridges of understanding others. Then only can we overcome loneliness and mental helplessness that make our lives miserable. Much time is wasted in our unwillingness to step out and to understand others. We become too self-righteous, too self-glorified in acknowledging others' cultural and personal perspective. Absence of understanding leads to increasing cases of taking offence at the slightest instance. Forgiving others becomes difficult. Resentments ride high. Life becomes an inferno of likes and dislikes, full of misery

Courtesy: The Vedanta Kesary, English monthly from R K Math, Chennai