We live in a world where we often believe things as true that are only a figment of our imagination. We simply decide to universally believe them so that we might make some sense of this world. Without conventions, we couldn't even communicate with one another. Numbers, language, time -- they are all ideas that we adapt to our lives to understand better. Conceivably the most important of these conventions is religion. Religion's sole purpose is not communication, or understanding. It’s a way of life.
Piscine Moliter Patel. A pool, a boy. One has cut, clear edges and boundaries, and one defies all of those things in life, making decisions that would spark much controversy with most people you meet. In birth, we are not simply born without any reason. We are brought into this world by our parents, and these people already have much of your life laid out for you. You cannot choose the circumstances into which you are born. Through most of your childhood, you don't actually have many choices to make. For, with religion, there is already an existing path for you to follow.
And though sometimes religion might sometimes seem controlling and tiresome, we would be a lost world without it. Where would our morals be? What would be our reasoning? The ocean, unlike pools, is indefinable. The seas rise and fall, are calm but monstrous. It is vast and unpredictable, never knowing what truly lurks right beneath the surface. At least with some belief, you will have a little lifeboat on the open ocean. A means of transportation.
After all, wouldn't you like to have some clear instructions to facing life, rather than be thrown in where there is no help? Most people would prefer swimming in a pool, crystalline, sanitary, and heated, to swimming in the cold, murky ocean. Pools, just like conventions, are man made. Don’t we feel safer in something we know?
If conventions are supposed to bring us together, though, why is there more than one religion? Why does everyone insist that only one may truly be "right"? For in the Bible, John 14:2, it says "In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you." This could be read many ways, one of them explaining that there is room for all of his Christian children in heaven, the keyword being "Christian". Not implying that it's wrong, but simply that another translation could be that, they are different rooms. Maybe we are all worshiping the same God, just in different ways because our conventions aren't exactly alike.
It's important to know that Pi grew up in a zoo, because there, many different habitats live in harmony. A tiger could be only a few feet away from a grazing gazelle, and nothing between but peace would be present. They are different as could be, but are all of the same zoo, and they are all living creatures. Even one of the habitats exhibits more widely two species living, and thriving off of each other-- the rhinos and the goats. They live differently, but manage to stay in agreement. Pi grows up with this idea, in these circumstances -- and it shows when he starts making his own decisions about religion. Looking into his house as an adult, there are many religious emblems, many for each of his three religions. Yet, none of them disrupt each other. In fact, Pi's house is full of order and harmony. You can tell he lives his life very religiously. Surely they were major factors when making an import decisions.
Say you are faced with a situation, in which you need to make a decision. What drives you to your decision is not random; it's everything you live and strive for, all compacted into one. If you are like most people, you'll want to do what's morally right, but also what's best for you. Sometimes these factors collide, tug at each other, do not find the same solution. What you do then is search for an answer somehow. If you are religious in any way, you might pray, or search your morals for the answer. But what do you do, if you live without religion? Morals are less important to most that live without it. Who was there to ever tell you to do what is right over your own needs? How do these people get through life with virtually no direction?
This is what Pi wonders when he finds out his science teacher, Mr. Kumar is an atheist. Everything about Kumar seems to baffle Pi. The teacher is utterly logical about everything in life, refusing to believe what cannot be seen. He lives on what is known, as a science teacher. Even his appearance could describe him, though --with his toothpick legs holding up an immense torso. It's a wonder he can stay balanced, let alone transport. Life is too heavy a weight to be carried without some support.
Then Pi meets Kumar the Islam, and these two Kumars are about as opposite as can be. Islamic Kumar would stop what he was doing to recite a ritual prayer, kneeling on the ground. Pi loved this. He was an average man with forgettable looks, but during praise, was striking. They ate bread together. It was, in Pi's words, "tough, rubbery, and work for the teeth, but filling." (p.75) With religion life is still not perfect, but it is more complete.
What happens when we don’t chose any religion to live by, is the equivalent of setting someone on a boat adrift in the middle of the ocean with no motor, no oars or sail to steer. That person might not return to land to see another day. They'd drift somewhere, but with no control of direction, no telling the end. One can only hope to reach their destination, through all the winds and storms they will face.
During his time at sea, Pi goes momentarily blind, during which time Richard Parker killed someone. Pi loses sight of his morals after months of struggling along to stay true to them. His inner tiger takes over and kills a man, in order to survive. Piscine becomes ignorant to his religions, resulting in his id revealing itself, uncontrolled. He regrets this later. If Pi had not regained sight, he might've never lived on, because the id can get used to anything, "Even killing"(p.234) Pi admits.
Piscine was named after a pool. Later on, though, he changes it. He nicknames himself Pi -- like the irrational number. The name suits him. Who else but an indefinable person to share the name of an indefinable number? Not many people choose to believe more than a single religion as true, let alone three. So how can Pi accept three religions? His answer is that he just wants to love God. Though his methods are unconventional, they are just as true as any other. After all, anything is more real than nothing. "To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."(p. 36)
Dreaming...
Author's note: I got the inspiration for this poem from several National Geographic photos.I really like painting a picture in peoples' minds with poetry. My main focus is voice and word choice.
Tonight, I will dream;
Dream of a place
that only I know
that only I know
A place that,
only with belief you can go
only with belief you can go
You will appear there
with imagination
with imagination
With every last hope
in times of desperation
in times of desperation
This land is
snow-capped mountain tops
snow-capped mountain tops
it's shiny morning leaves
and it's dewdrops
and it's dewdrops
A refuge of
cavernous salty grottos
cavernous salty grottos
And the birds sing hymns
in smooth legato
in smooth legato
Even the mighty
seafaring rocks
seafaring rocks
Are perfect harmony
with pelican's squawks
with pelican's squawks
The grass by the wind
sends a cool green caress
sends a cool green caress
And also the leaves
on the trees that they dress
on the trees that they dress
When sunlight kisses
every fruitful plain
every fruitful plain
As golden as the
basking lion's mane
basking lion's mane
With pools so clear
you can see to the bottom
you can see to the bottom
Cool to the touch
like air in the autumn
like air in the autumn
The everlasting sun
for the long-lived summers
for the long-lived summers
And the Earth opens up
to the just-born new comer
to the just-born new comer
The warm breezy air
pours out from above
pours out from above
The freshness engulfing
your body's a glove
your body's a glove
Oh the gracious smells
Of an awaited spring
Of an awaited spring
Waft out to the hard working
Insects that sing
Insects that sing
Lay back on it's softened foliage
At the end of the day
At the end of the day
And stare right back
At the moon's heavenly ray
At the moon's heavenly ray
With beaches stretching
Miles of pink sand
Miles of pink sand
Millions of creatures
Inhabit this land
Inhabit this land
But while every other creature
Of God appears
Of God appears
Not one human being
Will set their foot here
Will set their foot here
For this is a safe house
Of the light-hearted
Of the light-hearted
A striving place
Where dreams will be started
Where dreams will be started
A place with no pain
A place with no sorrow
A place with no sorrow
A place where worries
Can be pushed til tomorrow
Can be pushed til tomorrow
So at the end of the day
When the earth goes to bed
When the earth goes to bed
That place will be missed
That place in your head.
That place in your head.
