Finished Reading ...

"Life of Pi" (Yann Martel)

I had mixed feelings when I finished reading this book. I'm not sure what to make of it. I've always been ambivalent of books that espouse a spiritual story. I was raised to believe that prayer and contemplation have a role to play in a person's life. It was meant to give you a more contemplative view of life and the world. I always nodded my head in agreement but I had a nagging hunch this spiritual stuff was a just a scam to make me adopt a fatalistic view of life, to accept one's lot in life, to suffer in silence.

Yet this story does have a resonance with me. Its Pi's unflinching faith in his spirit, in various deities, and in the forces of a (benign?) natural order, that gets him through the long crossing through the Pacific. Perhaps, Yann Martel in this story, is hinting that people should not limit their spiritual exploration to some exclusive and absolute belief set, but to have a more utilitarian view of religion and worship. In other words, an adaptive religion. Pick a religion for the occasion and run with it. Because no one has a monopoly of the whole truth (if there is one).