Life of Pi

I went to see Life of Pi with R yesterday, the second time watching it for me. I saw it in Dubai last week, but thought I'd go with R and watch it in Bahrain yesterday. Not sure what he thought of it. It had a fairly profound impact on me the second time. I remember reading the book years ago and not being all that impressed. Just entertained. Then the movie made me think the first time, but the second time I was able to catch some stuff that I missed the first time around. Most meaningful to me was the ending were Pi asks Yann which version of the story he liked better. Yann says "The one with the animals." Pi then says "...and so it is with God." That grabbed me I think mostly because the Christian explanation of life and it's origin etc, is fanciful and hard to believe, but it's the one I prefer. Both explanations - the rational one and the fantastic one - don't answer some fundamental questions and are both horrific and enchanting - just like either story didn't explain why the ship went down in the first place. Why would God allow sin and it's consequences just so that love and relationship could occur for some while the rest perish. Is it worth it? But it still continues to be the better story. Otherwise there is no real love or meaning and we are just an accident and that's just too horrible to believe in, even if it is true. The tiger kept Pi alive because he "kept him alert because of his fear, and keeping him alive gave him purpose." I find that also profound. He chose to keep the tiger alive and it gave him a sense of purpose and fear, which kept him alive. Without a belief in God we loose our sense of purpose and fear, and therefore our will to live. Killing the tiger will ultimately kill ourselves. ...even if the tiger is not real, it's necessary ...and it's necessary that we believe in him. Wow. I've got a lot to do today and I don't want to do any of it. Must register Maddy for swimming. Must register my phone sim card. Need to get taxes sorted out. Need to get paperwork for home loan. Purpose. I have some purpose for this week. Glad it's a fairly light week. Longing to be able to write a novel like the Life of Pi. That's a purpose I can appreciate!