Life of Pi

 The Importance of Religion

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." 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" 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."

 Dependence

Author's note: The prompt for this response was to chose a quote from the reading and explain it's importance to the theme of the book.The quote I chose has important meaning to me, because whenever I feel like I'm having a bad day and everyone hates me, I always try to remember that God will get me through it all. 

"No, humanity and it's reliable ways could not be counted upon. It was land I had to reach, hard firm, certain land."

Humans can't be counted on -- we sin, make mistakes. So what can you hold on to in this world? We need some certainty, in order to settle our minds. We need a rock -- stable solid, sure. Life is driven by decisions based on your beliefs and how these beliefs guide you. It is your religion that is your rock. Which religion you chose dose not matter. You just need a firm foundation.

In the Bible, there is a story about a man building a house. At first, he tries to build it on sand, but rain pours down, sinking it. Next he attempts building it on grassy earth, but an earthquake shakes it down. Finally, he builds his  home on hard rock, and no matter how heavy the rain, or fierce the earthquake, his home stands.

In the book, Pi is stranded on a lifeboat. Does he really want to drift in the ocean, only to be saved by another boat, drifting, rocking, wandering the openness of the sea? He says himself that he needs to reach land -- where things are certain, with no mysteries below the surface.

Earthquakes of drama will shake hard in life, and rains of tragedy will persist, but as long as you hold tight to your faith, it's impossible to be broken. With no religion or any belief at all, falling is easy. There' nothing left if all of humanity has turned on you, which is possible, people being reliable as they are. People are nothing, have no purpose without religion. When you do have faith, though, you can rely on some things. Having faith in something -- anything -- will always provide hope for you.

  
 Letting Life Handle the Problems

Author's note: The reasoning behind this post was a writing prompt from Mr. Johnson. The prompt was "Discuss the significance of coming up with plans to deal with Richard Parker, and what this may be a metaphor of in real life, and how we deal with problems" I don't typically like prompts, but this one actually made me think and I realized that I hadn't seen any meaning the first time I read it. My focus is fluency. I am also trying not to start my sentences with "but", "and", or anything else like that.

We do not, nor will we ever live in a perfect world. We will always be faced with problems that you will  have to chose to act on. No matter how precisely we plan things, the universe will attack us from behind  and bring along some sort of obstacle. When these do come up, we think there is a definitive  answer. That we must act to solve this problem. We might be told that some problems can not be  ignored. During some circumstances, though, just letting things solve themselves is the only answer.

On the TsimTsum, there remain two living beings. These beings are not conventionally supposed to be  associated with each other. Pi believes that if he is to survive, then the 450 pound tiger cannot. He uses  a traditional method of problem solving. He analyzes his situation and comes up with a list of possible  solutions, then going through and ruling out each one. He is left with the sense that there is no way for  him to get rid of Richard Parker, other than to stay out of the way and hope that he can outlast the  animal.

Some people have the idea that you can't just leave a problem to solve itself, or it will get worse. They  solve all of their problems by using a "step-by-step problem solving method". The person then correctly chooses his or her solution and applies it. When faced with having to solve something, we often worry if we have the "right" answer. But the truth is that, as with religion, there can be more than one "right answer". Or your decision could be to do nothing.

As Pi says in the last sentence of chapter 54 "I only need to survive the night to put it into effect", all you need for this plan is "to observe, and let nature run it's course"(p.200). His hope is that, by leaving the tiger alone for a long enough time, Richard Parker will be killed simply by the depravation of basic needs. Sometimes the best choice is to let life run it's course.

We often attempt to decipher, and preplan details. So detailed, that if something didn't go as planned, all would go down in flames. We must refrain from doing anything at times, and simply let whatever will be, be. For one of the biggest decisions in his life, Pi's descision is to do nothing. To let the universe do it's work. This signifies the fact that, as much as we try to plan and change things, we can't control the ocean that  is life or predict what it will throw at us.

 Pools vs. Ocean

Author's note: In the beginning of part 2, Pi describes the sight of the boat sinking into the ocean. After talking it over with Mr. Johnson, I found that this represents birth for Pi, or rather rebirth, because Pi's old life is over now that his entire family is dead and he is stranded in the middle of the ocean, miles from either his former or would-be future home.Also, I am talking about swimming pools conventionally because before this incident, Pi always swam in pools. This post is about how people are symbolically born into a swimming pool, but when they become an adult and leave home, they are stranded in an ocean, left to decide their own direction. Considering I am only 14, I didn't have a lot of insight of being a young adult, so I mostly guessed, or took what I knew from stories and what Mr. Johnson said. I don't really like my conclusion, so I guess I would like feedback on that.

We are born into a swimming pool- not literally, but symbolically. We do not chose what family we are born into, so consequently, we are destined to a certain life. Would you be different had you been born into a another family, religion, or country? During our childhood, we are contained to a four-walled pool with clear boundaries. We are brought up with the conventions and typically carry them on with us into our adult lives. But we don't have to. We could easily change our life as easily as the clothes on our back. Your adult life is no longer a pool. It's a big, open ocean, with no forced direction. We chose our direction. As a child, you are forced to follow your family; you don't bite the hand that feeds you. But becoming an adult is like rebirth-- the only difference being that you are no longer entering a pool; you are entering an ocean.

While growing up, you follow your parent's guidelines. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though it does constrict your view of life. And as we all know, once something is second nature to you, it is hard to change. Most of you reading this post will never know what it truly feels like to be an orphan, living in a building with several other love deprived children, or being a slave in Africa, working for little or no money, during long days. We all have our little swimming pool that we view the world from, but just as clouds don't all show the same image to people, we don't really see life in the same way.

Then, after about 18 years in our pool, we are thrust out into the vast, unanswered ocean. Swimming pools are clear. You can see the bottom. You know how deep it is. You have a sense of direction. In an ocean, this is not so. It will not be controlled or totally understood by any living being. When thrust into it, you must follow the direction of your instinct, or any little knowledge that might lead you off a certain way. But on the ocean, there is nothing but water to see anywhere. You have the choice to go as far as you want in any direction. And while the ocean might be more risky, it is also full of opportunities.

Pools are man made, sculpted, created to be a certain way. But the ocean is real and true. It is not perfectly laid out. It is meant to expose the true values of a person. You will never truly be used to the ocean. It will keep bringing on surprise after surprise, good or bad. But the sea will provide a slightly larger view than what you had in a swimming pool. More to see, explore, experience. Whereas pools are fake, made to control and conceal people, the ocean is real.

Free Will Poem

Author's note: During the whole first half of "Life of Pi", one of the smaller sub-themes was "does free will really exist?", or at least we talked some about it in the pre-notes. Anyways I know the punctuation is a little weird and the poem itself a bit choppy, but this was my best attempt at mimicking Jonathan Reed's "Lost Generation", which tells a different story forwards then backwards. It was extremely difficult to get this to tell one story in one direction, then another in the opposite direction. My main focus was mostly copying the form, but I was also working on word choice. So first read the poem normally, then read it backwards, line by line.

Jonathan Reed's "A Lost Generation"

I am part of a lost generation

and I refuse to believe that

I can change the world

I realize this may be a shock but

“Happiness comes from within.”

is a lie, and

“Money will make me happy.”

So in 30 years I will tell my children

they are not the most important thing in my life

My employer will know that

I have my priorities straight because

work

is more important than

family

I tell you this

Once upon a time

Families stayed together

but this will not be true in my era

This is a quick fix society

Experts tell me

30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce

I do not concede that

I will live in a country of my own making

In the future

Environmental destruction will be the norm

No longer can it be said that

My peers and I care about this earth

It will be evident that

My generation is apathetic and lethargic

It is foolish to presume that

There is hope.

Now read this poem backwards, line by line.

My Poem

We have no free will.

I will never agree that

we can do what we want.

I say

There will forever be limitations.

They say

The world is free to express itself.

It is not true.

We must follow guidelines for an orderly  environment.

This is a lie;

We can make our own decisions, right or wrong.

I know that.

People control themselves.

Wrong.

We are controlled by the government and its rules and laws.

Some tell me

We can do whatever we so choose.

Unbelievable.

They claim

Not a person but yourself can make you do anything.

No.

"Can anyone truly make us do anything"?

I will continue to question

If

We have a choice

But we don't.

They say we have to be a certain way.

Not true:

We make the call.

I think

We don't decide.

This much is false:

Our minds can never be commanded by anyone other than ourselves.

Really,

We are controlled.

I will never believe that

Free will exists.

Now read this backwards, line by line. 


More Conventions

 Author's note: This is supposed to be my response to chapters 20-26, but since I didn’t post  one last time, it will include ideas from chapters 10-19, too. This actually helps me collect my  thoughts more, since what I was planning on writing about last time is further explained in  these chapters. Also after having a discussion with Mr. Johnson, some points were clarified. Pi begins to learn more about, and grow accustomed to different religions. I recognized that this book mostly has to do with religious conventions. This, in a way, reminded me of the allegory of the cave. I am focusing on idea development.

In the "Allegory of the Cave", Plato stresses that, in a world full of conventions, we may never truly  know what is real. People go through their lives, going day by day, thinking that what they know is  the truth. But this is also what the slaves chained in the cave thought. They were accustomed to one  way of life only, thinking of it as true, simply because they had no reason to believe otherwise.  We, as a fact driven people, also have no reason to question things. Maybe this is the reason for science, so that everyone may have some sense of reasoning to cling to. The prisoners in the cave were locked up so that they could only see forward towards the shadows, not back, where the reason the shadows existed was to be found. What exactly is keeping us from turning our heads? Who knows what might really be causing the shadows of our world?

At a bible camp, my counselor once told me "Humans trying to imagine what heaven will be like, is  like a 2-D stick person trying to imagine a 3-D world. It is completely out of grasp and we can't even  begin to wrap our minds around it." Maybe it is the way our brains are wired that is why we can't  "turn around", or maybe it is the over usage of conventions in society today. In the Cave story, one of  the prisoners escaped, and finds himself in the real world. Once he sees it, he immediately goes back  into the cave to tell his fellow slaves. They, of course, do not believe him. They have no reason to. No  way to tell if his stories are true.

A very small detail in the Allegory, but perhaps with a large message, is when the escaped prisoner first steps out of the cave. Initially, he is blinded by the light of the sun. It takes some time to adjust to the new light of the new world. This brings back another point in the book "Life of Pi". The scariest thing to any living creature is the unknown. We follow conventions, because we don't know anything without them.  A sense of safety keeps us glued to our everyday lives. It is a main incentive of why we follow conventions. The only other causes we have are that there is no reason to believe otherwise.

Maybe this is why everyone frowns upon the idea of Pi following three different religions. They are simply not used to this. Conventionally, a person is a believer of a sole religion. But Pi turns around with the idea that all religions are true, and sticks to his beliefs. Does this form an all new convention of it's own, or does it defy all others?


 The Need for Philosophy

Author's note: This poem is based on the last sentence of the seventh chapter. It says "To chose doubt as a philosophy in life in life is askin to choosing immobility as means of transportation." I think I recall this subject  being highlighted by Mr. Johnson during our pre-book discussion. I'm guessing that this will be a big part of the meaning of the book. To me, the sentence means that, no matter what you choose, you need to have some sort of motivation in your life, to give it purpose. After writing it, I realize that it's mostly just about religious philosophy, but other life-directing philosophies are intended. The poem definitely looks weird, in terms of structure, so I would guess it's a free verse. I am focusing on voice.

Religion

Our escape

Our reasoning

Our driving force

Who will you go to? With no one on your side?

 

Why do we choose to do what we do? What makes us believe it is right?

What makes us go on? What pushes us on, through times of doubt?

Religionless  world

A world with no hope

We all need something to believe in

Just for the sake of believing

Because what is the point to living, with nothing to live for?

What is Real?

Author's note: I am basing this response on what Mr. Johnson has been talking about lately- conventions and existentialism-how the past and future aren't real, and how matter supposedly doesn't exist. It made me think about how we really don' t know what is and isn't real. This supposedly will play a role in the book eventually. In the line "every one is just an extra in my movie" I'm trying to say that in the least selfish way possible. I really don’t think there is any factual data…It's pretty much just me rambling on about the mystery of things.

Empathizing is a hard thing to do. Imagining what life is like from someone else's point of view is almost impossible because all you are used to is seeing things through is your own eyes. At times, I think maybe I am the only one really here… that everyone else is just an extra in my movie. Maybe I have just been in a very long, realistic dream and none of the world exists. Do I even exist? Or am I just a simple thought roaming around in space, imagining all of this?

Rules don't exist. Numbers don't exist. Words don’t exist. These are all a compromise of  what we choose to believe, so that we may all have some grasp on what others experience. Some even argue that matter isn't real. Does that mean that everything you touch is nothing? So many questions there are will never get answered, for there is no way to prove them.

The way we see the world is really our own. Would nothing exist at all without living things to experience it? We will never be able to physically put ourselves into anther's mind, and, therefore, will never know if people do see/hear/smell/sense things differently because of conventions that we put together.