As the 2013 Acadamy Awards fade into memory I made my way this week, like many others, to the theatre to see the movie, “The Life of Pi”. It is a brilliant movie based on the novel of the same name written by Yann Martel. We are told at the beginning of the movie that “This is a story that will make you believe in God.” It is the story of a young man who survives not only a shipwreck but days on end of floating on the Pacific Ocean in a lifeboat with the only other survivor – a tiger named Richard Parker. At first consideration it is a fantastical story and one would wonder how a two hour movie could come from it. At second glance one would ask, “How could this make me a believer?”!
Pi is a deeply spiritual young man. As a young child he was raised on the stories of Krishna todl to him by his mother. Then as a boy he learns about Jesus and accepts Christianity. When, as a young teenager he is exposed to Islam becomes a Muslim, all without ever abandoning his first, and then second, faith. He see no contradition in holding to the truth of each faith.
the story of Pi’s survival is ponderous and beautiful. The movie ends with the posing of two stories and a question, “Which story do you beleive?” Implicit in this is the challenge that we can believe whatever story holds truth for us. I think the Life of Pi is a profound exploration of where we are as a global community and the coming together of faith groups. Do our various traditions and teachings have to be mutually exclusive or can we learn from each tradition and then be moved into a spiritual awareness that opens us to God’s love in a profound and deeply changing experience? The acceptance of truth (truth we often can’t prove by fact) is what it means to live by faith.
I’m Pi-eyed!
