Ghost Bikes: A Site for Self-Examination

Along the West Side Highway on the Hudson River Park bike path, a bicycle has been placed leaning against a sign for an upcoming driveway. This spray-painted-white bicycle was put beneath this driveway sign to memorialize a biker who was hit and killed by a car in the intersection. The project to create these somber memorials for killed bicyclists started in 2005 and since then over 150 Ghost Bikes have appeared in New York City. As a memorial to the individual and an attempt to raise awareness for bicyclists' safety, a white bike and an accompanying plaque are placed at the site of an accident. 

As well as avocation for bike safety and memorialization of the deceased, the Ghost Bike forces the observer to confront their own mortality. I run throughout the entire city and have crossed many Ghost Bikes. I've passed this one hundreds of times. Each time I run back up the river, past this bike, and through the intersection, I am reminded of my own mortality and place in the world. A similar process of confrontation with oneself can be seen throughout the religious texts we've read, including The Damnation of Theron Ware and Dharma Bums.

One purpose of religion is that it can provide an individual with an identity. The different aspects that make up religion--traditions, rituals, beliefs, etc.--all help in defining a person. Religion also provides an opportunity for the development of identity by serving as a site for an individual to examine oneself. By encouraging a confrontation with oneself, religion can help a person develop their sense of self and their place in world. 

Religion serves as a catalyst for the creation of identity in The Damnation of Theron Ware when Ware and his religious peers hold a camp revival meeting in the woods. The sense of community and bonding within the revival meeting contribute to the identity of those within it. Further, the separation between those in the revival meeting and the onlookers who come to observe serves as a space for self-confrontation. Those outside the meeting are forced into doing introspective work. While some originally came for the spectacle, the intense religiosity of the revival meetings leads some to evaluate themselves. By looking on at something they are separate from, the onlookers are then led to consider there own place in the world and what defines them. 

Jack Kerouac was also led to self-examination through his religious experiences in Dharma Bums. Kerouac's exploration of Buddhism led him to confront certain aspects of himself and of life. Kerouac questioned his tendencies towards lust and desire as a result of Buddhism's condemnation of them. As well, the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism declare suffering as an essential fact of life. Because of this, Kerouac examines the suffering in his life and attempts to mitigate it through quasi-Buddhist methods.

In some instances, religious self-confrontation can be explicit. Kerouac's experience with Buddhism exemplifies a religion that is focused on self-examination and reformation. Religious self-confrontation can also take a more subtle tone, such as the experience of onlookers at the revival camp in The Damnation of Theron Ware. While the intent of the camp was not to force onlookers into introspective work, the religious experience provided a site for such work to occur. In a similar way, the Ghost Bikes provides a means through which a person can explore their identity and place in the world. 

When encountering a Ghost Bike, one can't help but consider their own mortality. Just as Buddhism led to self-reflection for Kerouac and the revival meeting led to self-reflection for onlookers, the Ghost Bike leads a person to reflect on themselves. The fact that the Ghost Bikes serve as a site for self-examination and consideration of one's place in world add an aspect of religiosity to them beyond the memorialization of dead.