I went to the movie Life of Pi tonight with a good friend from High School. It's been a few years since I read the book, but I have been super excited for the movie. If you haven't read the book and plan to, stop reading now, because I might give out some spoilers.
     When I talk to people about Life of Pi I always say that without the twist at the end, I wouldn't consider it among the best books I've read. In fact, the first time I tried to read the novel, I stopped. My grandma had suggested it to me and I started it one summer, stopped, and didn't go back to it until two years later after she died. I probably went back to it because I was looking for one last piece of something I could share with my grandma. She and I have always had the same taste in books: The Time Traveler's Wife, Harry Potter, The Red Tent, Life of Pi. Someone in Los Angeles must have the same taste as us as well because this summer I was in a gigantic used books store and I found a whole shelf of all of my grandma's and my favorite novels.
     Anyway, I was so struck by the end of the novel that I forgot about the things I loved during the book, but the movie reminded me of these wonderful things tonight. I had completely forgotten the beautiful language Martel gives Pi when he tells of his belief in God.
     The novel opens with an author who visits Pi to hear Pi's story after a man told the author that Pi's story will make him believe in God.
      I don't normally talk about religion. I would say I'm very lucky in that I've never had major questionings in my own beliefs and I've grown up in a family where most members have supported me to find my own way in regards to spirituality. I don't consider myself a religious person, however, I would say I have my own spirituality and relationship God (gods, Buddha,  Allah, the powers that be, good vibes, whatever) but I usually keep that between me and God(s, et al.) My whole rationality behind religion is that in the end, don't all religions ask us to just be good people? That's easy for me, I get that. I've never understood the dislike among different religions--if we're just supposed to be decent people, and if what one good person is doing/believing doesn't hurt you or anyone else, why not let him be?
     At the age of 12, Pi already considers himself a practicing Hindu, Christian and Muslim. I love this. He sees the similarities between the religions and takes the beauty in each one and manifests them in his everyday spiritutality. It seems profound for a 12 year old to have this grasp on life that most adults do not have, but at the same time, Pi's innocence is what makes him able to see that those similarities. One of my favorite quotations of the novel is: “Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat wearing Muslims.” Glorious language. I could never say anything so perfectly, so simply. 
     I love Pi's view of the world. His confusion is not among the divisions in different religions, but how can humans drink in the wonders of our world not believe in some higher power? “If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?” As a person reading this quotation warms my soul. As a writer, I'm incredibly jealous of the language and how perfectly this ties into the piece I find so fascinating about Martel's novel. Which story is Pi's real story? Is Pi the tiger or did he really survive 227 days with Richard Parker on the lifeboat? 
     Normally I hate, absolutely despise, when an author makes me read a whole passage, or in this case a whole novel, and then says "Oh, well, that was all a lie/dream/fantasy/whatever, here's what really happened." But that twist is why this story stands out so vividly in my mind years after reading it. Does it matter? Does it matter if Pi is the tiger or if the tiger was real? Does it matter if we label our belief Christian or Hindu or Muslim or whatever religion if at the end of the day we love our neighbors and help the less fortunate? As I said earlier, Pi's confusion lies not among people of different beliefs but those who doubt, those of no belief: “If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” The greatest way to live and grow is to continuously push and develop our philosophies ourselves. Truly fantastic literature can help us create this mobility. 
     Read the book. See the film if only for the colors and the beautiful effects.