So, last night for movie night the Thomas's decided to go see "Life Of Pi." I have to admit that I didn't really feel too excited about seeing it, but I knew that from the previews it was about an Indian boy and a tiger on a boat. I wanted to see how in the heck this Indian boy was able to prevent a tiger from eating him while on a boat, and that gave me enough motivation to go see it. Yep, pretty simple thought process there. To my surprise I was given a full course meal of life's meanings, human longings, and philosophy. I would like to share that meal with you. This blog post isn't really a spoiler but it really isn't not a spoiler either. It just is. Here, just take a bite already.
Pi's Desire For More
Pi is an interesting boy. He seems to see the beauty in everything, even when arguably there is not any beauty to be seen by others who are seeing the exact same things he sees. This tends to get Pi in trouble a lot. He gets made fun of by school mates, almost gets mauled by a tiger, and is mocked by his father and brother for his very Unitarian centered views on faith. But for whatever that was worth, I didn't let that bother me. The film even makes light of it intentionally in a comedic way in fact. You see, the focus of the movie is that Pi is a boy that sees everything. There are not "nothings" or "somethings", but everything is endowed with something more...God. That idea I can roll with, and the movie takes you on a ride. Pi is swept away in a catastrophic boat sinking accident and he is forced to survive on a life boat. Oh, and he has company: A zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a tiger decide to also swim aboard. Pi is forced to live on a life boat stranded with these animals, some of them carnivorous. And this is where the story becomes epically enchanting and also hauntingly unbelievable. And this plays out through the duration of the film.
Pi's story leaves us the viewers with a sense of strong satisfaction yet noticeable unbelief, and this is intentional. It is however so unbelievable that Pi tells a different story to skeptics to satisfy their desire for logic. This story is dark, visceral, and even devoid of animals all together. And the people he tells it to are unsatisfied and have pity for him. In conclusion you understand Pi and the human desire for meaning. That the story with the animals is beautiful and our human nature desires that story over the second. But do we?
Our Desire For More
Albert Einstein once said " there are two ways to live your life; you can live as if nothing is a miracle, you can live as if everything is a miracle." So, nothing or everything, eh Albert? Sounds pretty harsh and excessive. Yet I believe it to be very true. Case in point: Pi tells two stories. One is very logical and yet unsatisfying and the other is very improbable but very satisfying. This is the human struggle in all of us with faith vs non faith in general. The stories of Noah's Arc, Daniel in the Lion's Den, David and Goliath, and Jesus raising from the dead are very amazing, to some very satisfying, yet admittedly improbable. To believe nothing is a miracle or that nothing has meaning beyond the visceral, on the other hand, is to say all things are explained by a rational reason, nothing more. And to believe this means that as a race we must also be satisfied with this. That when you look in the eyes of someone you love, you are in essence looking at nothing. That your love for them is really nothing. That when death comes to us all, it will usher us into what we have really always known, nothing. There is no middle ground here. You have to have faith or not. Think about it. Why do we love fantasy, fiction, love, etc...we want more from life. I don't know about you but I don't want to be a "muggle" if I was in the Harry Potter story, I want to be a wizard . Yet to "have more" means to live by the standards of that faith and to (by faith) dismiss some logic (logic is not always reliable) and perhaps seek a Higher one. And this is the great struggle in the inside of us, us who think about their lives that is..which is not always a given fact and is becoming less and less so. Thankfully, God wants us to have more also.
God's Interesting Adjective
God wants us to have more. But the catch is we have to decide to want to have more, no matter what. Even if it sounds absurd and just plain stupid, pardon my lack of tact. Because, well absurdity doesn't make something invaluable..its just absurdly valuable. God wants us to go after the absurdly valuable and this is communicated in what He says about himself when Moses decided to have a little mountain top experience, while he left Israel down below, hanging out and waiting. While up there he meets God. And asks Him basically, who He is. God is very introspective here and says: "I AM WHO I AM." What the heck?? What is someone supposed to do with a response like that? However, it was very appropriate. If someone was to ask you what the color green was, what would you say? "Well, it's just green bro." You would have to see the color green and be told that it was in fact green to know it is green. And so it is with God. He tells us that to know Him we must experience Him and be told by Him (by prayer, His Word, community with others, etc.) that what we are experiencing is in fact...Him. We can't figure Him out, any more than you can fully figure out the guy next door who wants to play video games loudly at midnight. Nor can we know anyone accurately, without meeting them face to face. God invites Moses and the race of Man to this relationship. To know more. Maybe the struggle with logic versus absurd satisfaction will be settled here: By going on an absurd journey with God and having the consequence be that we find more from ourselves and our lives in the process. Happy hunting and thanks for reading! Please do comment if so motivated. :)
Pi's Desire For More
Pi is an interesting boy. He seems to see the beauty in everything, even when arguably there is not any beauty to be seen by others who are seeing the exact same things he sees. This tends to get Pi in trouble a lot. He gets made fun of by school mates, almost gets mauled by a tiger, and is mocked by his father and brother for his very Unitarian centered views on faith. But for whatever that was worth, I didn't let that bother me. The film even makes light of it intentionally in a comedic way in fact. You see, the focus of the movie is that Pi is a boy that sees everything. There are not "nothings" or "somethings", but everything is endowed with something more...God. That idea I can roll with, and the movie takes you on a ride. Pi is swept away in a catastrophic boat sinking accident and he is forced to survive on a life boat. Oh, and he has company: A zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a tiger decide to also swim aboard. Pi is forced to live on a life boat stranded with these animals, some of them carnivorous. And this is where the story becomes epically enchanting and also hauntingly unbelievable. And this plays out through the duration of the film.
Pi's story leaves us the viewers with a sense of strong satisfaction yet noticeable unbelief, and this is intentional. It is however so unbelievable that Pi tells a different story to skeptics to satisfy their desire for logic. This story is dark, visceral, and even devoid of animals all together. And the people he tells it to are unsatisfied and have pity for him. In conclusion you understand Pi and the human desire for meaning. That the story with the animals is beautiful and our human nature desires that story over the second. But do we?
Our Desire For More
Albert Einstein once said " there are two ways to live your life; you can live as if nothing is a miracle, you can live as if everything is a miracle." So, nothing or everything, eh Albert? Sounds pretty harsh and excessive. Yet I believe it to be very true. Case in point: Pi tells two stories. One is very logical and yet unsatisfying and the other is very improbable but very satisfying. This is the human struggle in all of us with faith vs non faith in general. The stories of Noah's Arc, Daniel in the Lion's Den, David and Goliath, and Jesus raising from the dead are very amazing, to some very satisfying, yet admittedly improbable. To believe nothing is a miracle or that nothing has meaning beyond the visceral, on the other hand, is to say all things are explained by a rational reason, nothing more. And to believe this means that as a race we must also be satisfied with this. That when you look in the eyes of someone you love, you are in essence looking at nothing. That your love for them is really nothing. That when death comes to us all, it will usher us into what we have really always known, nothing. There is no middle ground here. You have to have faith or not. Think about it. Why do we love fantasy, fiction, love, etc...we want more from life. I don't know about you but I don't want to be a "muggle" if I was in the Harry Potter story, I want to be a wizard . Yet to "have more" means to live by the standards of that faith and to (by faith) dismiss some logic (logic is not always reliable) and perhaps seek a Higher one. And this is the great struggle in the inside of us, us who think about their lives that is..which is not always a given fact and is becoming less and less so. Thankfully, God wants us to have more also.
God's Interesting Adjective
God wants us to have more. But the catch is we have to decide to want to have more, no matter what. Even if it sounds absurd and just plain stupid, pardon my lack of tact. Because, well absurdity doesn't make something invaluable..its just absurdly valuable. God wants us to go after the absurdly valuable and this is communicated in what He says about himself when Moses decided to have a little mountain top experience, while he left Israel down below, hanging out and waiting. While up there he meets God. And asks Him basically, who He is. God is very introspective here and says: "I AM WHO I AM." What the heck?? What is someone supposed to do with a response like that? However, it was very appropriate. If someone was to ask you what the color green was, what would you say? "Well, it's just green bro." You would have to see the color green and be told that it was in fact green to know it is green. And so it is with God. He tells us that to know Him we must experience Him and be told by Him (by prayer, His Word, community with others, etc.) that what we are experiencing is in fact...Him. We can't figure Him out, any more than you can fully figure out the guy next door who wants to play video games loudly at midnight. Nor can we know anyone accurately, without meeting them face to face. God invites Moses and the race of Man to this relationship. To know more. Maybe the struggle with logic versus absurd satisfaction will be settled here: By going on an absurd journey with God and having the consequence be that we find more from ourselves and our lives in the process. Happy hunting and thanks for reading! Please do comment if so motivated. :)
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