Life of Pi

I know... this poor blog has been languishing for exactly 7 months (almost to the day). Life has been hectic and busy... and with the year away, I now have some time to devote to writing.

Truth be told, the urge to write has never gone away, I just haven't let it had free rein! But we'll see how this goes.


The Life of Pi. It's a book. I'd heard about it about 10 years ago but never read it. Never had any desire to read it actually. And it's by a Canadian author too! Has won many medals... And yet was never on my radar screen until a few weeks ago. That is when I started seeing ads for a movie version of Life of Pi. It looked interesting but that is about it.

Then, I was at a flea market on the weekend and saw a paperback copy of the book tucked in with a bunch of other books. It was $2 and I bought it. I am a firm believer that books find you when you are ready. They cross your path and if you are awake and aware, you can snatch them up. I would have to also say that a lot of books have crossed my path, and while the vast majority have been read and released back into the world.... quite a few are still languishing on my bookshelves, calling my name. So many books!!

Anyhow... the Life of Pi. I started it last night and finished Part 1 today. The general jist of the story centers on an Indian boy named Pi. Part 1 covers his youth in India. Part 2 covers his time on the lifeboat with several animals, including a Bengal Tiger. Part 3 covers his rescue.

What was interesting for me in Part 1 was the story of Pi's spirituality. He is a Hindu, has been on from birth. Feels very comfortable as a Hindu, and yet one day, wanders into a Roman Catholic church. And is entranced. Ah... a classic conversion story you think? No... not quite. Pi is still a Hindu, but also now a Christian. And then one day he wanders by a mosque and meets a Muslim baker and... is entranced. So three days of the week he attends religious services: the Hindu Temple, the Christian Church, the Muslim Mosque.

Pi's parents are oblivious to their son's religious practices until one day, walking along the beachfront promenade, they happen to meet all three religious leaders... who are all equally proud of how spiritual Pi is and go up to congratulate his parents... all at the same time. The encounter is both funny and poignant. Upon realizing that Pi is attending all three places of worships, they insist to him and to his parents that he must choose one and only one. Pi quotes Mahatma Gandhi - "All religions are true". Pi's father eventually settles the matter by saying that it is clear all Pi wants to do is "love God". The religious leaders drift away for they can not argue with that.

Which makes me wonder... if all any of us really want to do is love God... and love our neighbour, why does it have to be so complicated?

There is a mountain across from our place which has three trails to the summit. What would it be like if people were to say that one specific trail was the "true" trail, and that the other trails were "false"? What would it be like if someone wanted to climb the mountain without using one of the trails? What if they wanted to create their own trail? All trails lead to the summit.

If religions are all paths for people who love God, in their own ways... then why do we say that one specific religion is "true" and the others are false. I suppose that is the ultimate crux of the matter. Do we believe that all religions are true? Or not?

Because the funny thing with the three trails up the mountain is that although they all have a different starting place, they all eventually merge into one trail to the summit. Kind of funny that. Wonder what will happen to all of our different religious paths given enough time.