Life of Pi

            The book Life of Pi by Yann Martel tells the story of a young man named Pi Molitor Patel who is shipwrecked in the middle of the ocean and left on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a Bengal Tiger. One by one each creature is eliminated from the boat until it is just Pi and Richard Parker, the tiger. A large chunk of Life of Pi focuses on religion and the many questions that come with belief in a higher spirit.

            Pi faces his first challenge against religion when talking to his trusted teacher, Mr. Kumar, as a young boy. For all of Pi’s life, he has been devout in his beliefs with no one to challenge him. But as Mr. Kumar talks with Pi, Pi sees for the first time that faith is not the only way to see the world. Mr. Kumar calls religion darkness, stating that there’s no reason to believe anything but our sense experience. No proof that an afterlife exists. Mr. Kumar says, “Reason is my prophet and it tells me that as a watch stops, so we die. It’s the end.” Pi leaves the conversation confused and slightly worried that in just a few sentences Mr. Kumar could have destroyed something that he loved, infected his beliefs the way a virus takes over. But Pi does not lose faith; in fact his beliefs are stronger. From this, Pi learns that it is natural to doubt life and faith, but you must move on. “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

            The first religion he finds is Hinduism, a religion defined by the dictionary as the main religion of India which includes the worship of many gods and the belief that after you die you return to life in a different form.  The second is Christianity the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies. For Pi it is hard to wrap his mind around these two faiths. In Hinduism each incarnation of God is almighty, obviously more powerful than its people. In Christianity, there can be found a more human side of god, Christ, a man who spoke the word of God and sacrificed himself for the sins of others; something Pi has a hard time understanding. He once compares Christianity to Hinduism saying Christianity is “a religion as swift as a swallow, as urgent as an ambulance. It turns on a dime, expresses itself in the instant. In a moment you are lost or saved. Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it exists only at one time: right now.” Islam, the religious faith of Muslims including belief in Allah as the sole deity and in Muhammad as his prophet, came last. In an encounter with all three religious heads, a priest, an imam and a pandit, it is found out that Pi has been practicing all three religions faithfully. When criticized, Pi says, “I just want to love God.” Later, he goes on to compare the religions, “They both claim Abraham as theirs. Muslims say the God of the Hebrews and Christians is the same God of the Muslims. They recognize David, Moses and Jesus as prophets.” Pi realizes that many religions are similar, but they hold different values higher.

            Through Pi’s journey both on land and stranded we as readers get to see how religion helps Pi cope with life. Religion is a challenging issue because many are skeptical, like Mr. Kumar. To put faith into something with no proof can be very nerve wracking for some, something that I myself have struggled with. Pi never doubts his faith, and instead embraces multiple cultures.  He sees that there are many different takes on “correct” beliefs and decides to incorporate them all into his. After reading Life of Pi, I felt that my eyes were more open and were able to see connections between religions I had not noticed before. Ultimately, I believe that religion is a very personal thing. Much of what you choose to believe tends to depend upon personal values that you hold higher. When it comes to differentiating actual religious groups, a lot of it is based on the same scriptures and the same ideas, but it is how different people interpret texts and depends upon what different groups hold higher.  I’m glad I read Life of Pi, as I felt that it made me think a lot about a wide range of topics and question things that I hadn’t before.