the difference between steel bridges and mountains

"What is the difference between steel bridges and mountains? Size alone is no indicator, for many bridges span huge rivers that are as wide as mountains. Neither can beauty be judge, for some favor cold steel over rock and clay. The answer lies in their construction. As amazing as a bridge is, as precisely engineered, as strong and unmoving, it is simply a mound of steel, arranged to serve man. A mountain is living. No, its dirt and stone do not breathe, but the mountain moves, it changes shape and form as history takes place. Rather than workers building it in a day, a mountain's workers are the ants and birds, the rain and wind. The bridge is a monument to the efficiency and enginuity of man. The mountain? A testament to the power and artistry of God."

I made this discovery while viewing the mountains of Panama, halfway obscured by the Bridge of the Americas, a large steel bridge linking Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is an amazing structure. Yet so many come to Panama, and see the bridge, the canal, the night clubs and resturants - and miss the mountains completely.

Do I miss the mountains?

Is it possible for one's life to be so filled with constructs of wonder, skeletons of work, monuments to the enduring power of the self, that the mountains - true vessels of eternal Awe - are not seen at all? For some reason, the monks of old seem to have realized this puzzle. They forsook everything, not wishing that any comfort would hinder their worship. Perhaps this is what I lack now - I want to build the bridge so badly I am drawing up blueprints, when all my work is doing is blocking the view.