Don't get stuck in the island

'Life of Pi' is one of those rare films that makes you think. Though a commercial Hollywood movie, it is rich in philosophy with strong theological undercurrents. The whole movie is based around a boy named Pi Patel and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, and their struggle to survive following a shipwreck. However, when I left the theater another character from the movie had taken me over - an unusually different character than the ones we are used to. And that also will explain how 'Life of Pi' found its place in a blog that is dedicated primarily to faith in God (or the lack of it).

There is a part in the movie where Pi Patel had lost all of his hopes of survival. Both him and his alter-ego Richard Parker were ready to give up. So they both fall asleep thinking that they would never wake up to see another day. The surprise came next morning in the form of an island in the midst of the ocean. In this island, both Pi and Parker found plenty of food, shelter and happiness. In other words, the island gave Pi everything he wanted at that time - things he thought he would never again have. Pi thought that was the end of journey for him, that he had successfully survived the shipwreck and this island is what life had in store for him. But when sun went down and night came Pi got to see another face of the island. During the day the island was a giver - it provided its inhabitants with everything they wanted, but at night it was a taker - the island turned acidic and ingested everything that came into contact with it. The island was a trap with its never ending cycles of symmetry, thus making it a unique character - a parable to our life on earth. 

If you think about it, our life is no different from the mysterious island which Pi called home for a brief time. Our worldly life is nothing more than loops of gives and takes - everyday we gets something, but something gets taken away from us also. Just when you think you have made something, you also realize that you have also lost something. You could trade wealth with health, happiness with sadness, hardships with comfort, love with hate, peace with war, innocence with cruelty, serenity with mayhem, or vice versa. The wealth of this world has always been the same - all the resources that we fight to possess has been in existence in one form or another since the beginning of time. Humans haven't added or taken away anything from this world. We may have altered it and we may have inflated its value. But we didn't create any of it, we didn't destroy any of it forever either. Yet, we consider this world as our home, our destination. We take great pride in what we achieve here, and chase everything this world has to offer with a never ending hunger. Often we fail to see the futility of our chase, we close our eyes and pretend to be sleeping  when the world shows its other face - the taker.

God revealed the true nature of the island to Pi Patel. He accepted the revelation and decided to move on by getting back into the ocean with no other land in sight anywhere. Everyday, in one form or another, God gives us this revelation also - that the world we occupy is not our destination. This is only a temporary rest area - a stopping place before we move onto a place where nobody takes anything away from us. When we accept this reality and break away from the treacherous cycle of give and take, we might find ourselves back in the middle of the ocean again - away from the comforts of the island. This is where faith can help, for "Faith is substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith in God and willingness to obey Him can help us escape the island and successfully reach the mainland. Enjoy the island while you are there, but don't make it home - don't let it eat you up. Instead use it as a place to gather things - to revitalize faith - to continue the journey to our final destination.