Life of Pi: Magnet Religion

I haven't yet finished Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, and I do not usually do book reviews, but I encountered something that I found very interesting. For those of you who have seen the movie you will know that of all the searches in this book, the search for meaning and spirituality receives top billing.

There is a collection of chapters in which he details his initial encounters with Christianity and Islam. He approached both encounters with a mix of intrigue and fear, eager to learn but fearful of what might happen because of his enquiry. He noted that both religions had "a reputation for few gods and great violence." But his encounters, like most personal encounters do, changed his opinion of both.

Although he visited the church first I would like to relay what drew him to want to become a Muslim.

"It is," he says, "a beautiful religion of brotherhood and devotion." The routine prayers that involved calisthenics were intriguing to him, and his participation in it made him feel as if he had located hidden treasure. "It felt good to bring my forehead to the ground. Immediately it felt like a deeply religious contact."

I agree with his sentiments and appreciate his discoveries. Having visited Egypt and been immersed, albeit briefly, in an Islamic society, I have gained a deep and profound respect for the devotion exhibited by the faithful Muslims. I was struck by the devotion of those who prayed so frequently that a callous formed on their forehead. Their commitment to reading, memorizing, and living the Quran is exemplary, and their sense of community and fellowship provides the basis for steady growth. Little wonder that Piscine was attracted to it.

His initial contact with the church and Christianity struck me because of his discoveries of it in comparison to that of the Islamic tradition. Throughout chapter 17 he begins with the peculiar claims of Christianity.

"The first thing that drew my in was disbelief. What? Humanity sins but it's God's Son who pays the price?"

Secondly he found the Son (Jesus), and his behaviors, to be extremely undignified for a god. In a discussion about the Son's deportment he begins with a story of baby Krishna who, even in his infancy, displays the regality that is due a divine one. Then there is Vishnu who grows to such extreme sizes that  with 3 strides he can "cover the earth... the heavens... [and] boot Bali into the netherworld." Next is Rama of whom Pi said, "No spindly cross would have kept him down. When push came to shove, he transcended his limited human frame with strength no man could have and weapons no man could handle."

"That is God as God should be. With shine and power and might. Such as can rescue and save and put down evil."

He then proceeds in a quite perplexed manner to discuss the Son.

"This Son, on the other hand, who goes hungry, who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed, who has to put up with followers who don't get it and opponents who don't respect Him--what kind of God is that?"

"This Son is a god who spent most of his time telling stories, talking... a pedestrian god... when he splurged on transportation, it was a regular donkey. This Son is a god who died in three hours, with moans, gasps and laments. What kind of God is that?

"He bothered me, this Son. Every day I burned with greater indignation against him, found more flaws to Him."

He continues to chronicle some of his beef with God the Son. He doesn't like the fact that Jesus curses fig trees that do not bear fruit during the non-fruit bearing season. The fig tree was "innocent" in this alteration, and didn't deserve such treatment.

But something happens. In the same way warm water at first tortures near frozen fingers and toes before becoming a soothing ally, the person of the Son soon becomes less bothersome and more beneficial to Pi.

"I couldn't get Him out of my head. Still can't. I spent three solid days thinking about Him. The more He bothered me, the less I could forget Him. And the more I learned about Him, the less I wanted to leave Him.

It was and is the Son, Jesus Christ, that draws people to reality. A reality that suggests that one cannot live without him. Indeed a reality which suggests that we were never really alive until we met him. This brief chapter emphasizes that, although I don't think that was Pi's intent. It was devotion that drew him to Islam; indeed, the sense of brotherhood, too. But it was the Son that drew him to Christianity. It was what humans displayed that drew him to Islam. It was what the Son did that drew him to Christianity.

I think that is a healthy reminder for us "Son followers." In our attempts to evangelize and convert and win souls, we mustn't neglect to simply tell the Son's story. Tell the one about the poor God. Tell the one about the thirsty God. Tell about the God who gets slapped. Tell about the glutton and wine bibbing God. His story is compelling enough to shake a person to the core and cause them to ask "What kind of God is that?"

I haven't yet finished the book, and in my small reading of it I can tell that Pi is a very inquisitive person. Like many today he was (is) searching for spirituality; looking to love God without necessarily wanting to isolate to a religion. So he chooses (at least in this part of the book) to become a Christian and Muslim. I think what Pi didn't realize is that if he truly desires to love God, indeed know God, the best way is through knowing, loving and following the Son. "If you have seen me," says the Son, "you have seen the Father."