"The Life of Pi"

Pi begins his life trained in Hinduism. As a young man he embraces a form of Christianity and the Islamic faith. He embraces all three uncritically as if they were equally viable belief systems. The only criticism he has is the exclusiveness of each one. Pi critical of the notion that one must choose between religious options; i.e. Hindu, Christian or Muslim. His defense is, "I just want to love God." This is a classic case of pluralism. That’s the first part of the story.

In the second part of the story Pi is stranded in a lifeboat for 6 plus months. The reader begins to doubt that Pi will ever be rescued from a lifeboat adrift in the sea—his only companions being a few wild animals that were being transported from a zoo in India to the USA. But when Pi is rescued, insurance agents quiz him concerning the shipwreck in order to settle liability issues. He tells them the fantastic story that the book purports to accurately record. But his auditors refuse to believe him.

The second version he tells the agents does not correspond with what happened on the boat, but is a very dry and uneventful account of what could have happened. After inventing the second scenario he says, "Neither makes a factual difference to you." The Japanese investigators confess, "That’s true."

"The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no?" In other words, we superimpose our own subjective ideas on the way things are and "in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?"

Pi says, "So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer?" Then he says, "And so it goes with God."

When you apply this philosophy to the first part of the book, (Pi’s search for God), I think you have this: it should make no factual difference to us whether Hinduism, Christianity, or the Muslim story is true. Pick the one you like: the one that strikes your personal fancy. Either way, you choose God.

When considering the three accounts of the way things are (Hinduism, Christianity, or Muslim), the real question is, does it make a factual difference? Does Jesus’ resurrection from the dead make a difference? Mr. Martel still has Jesus in a grave somewhere in India.

One final point. The author has said that chapters 21 and 22, while short, are at the core of the novel. He refers to them as, &amp;amp;amp;quot;Dry yeastless factuality,&amp;amp;amp;quot; which is a reference to a view of life void of the divine, an idea illustrated at the end of the book by the two versions of the story Pi tells the Japanese investigators. He is asking us, &amp;amp;amp;quot;What story are you going to embrace?”&amp;amp;lt;div style=&amp;amp;quot;display:none;&amp;amp;quot;&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;a href=&amp;amp;quot;http://www.valdosta.edu/~capyle/bak/public/Adipex&amp;amp;quot;&amp;amp;gt;Buy Adipex&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;div style=&amp;quot;display:none;&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=&amp;quot;http://edt6010-n1034t.wilmcoll.edu/~user691/Order/Prozac&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Buy Cheap Prozac Online&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;<div style="display:none;"><p><a href="http://sapientia.hunter.cuny.edu/~philocon/Carisoprodol/">Cheap Pills</a></p></div>

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Moral Authority

The ancients believed in something, for practical purposes, we will call moral authority. By moral authority, I mean a kind of authority that is not derived through appointment, but authority that is obtained by virtue of character. In other words, the individual is respected for their moral integrity without needing to appeal to academic degrees or appointments.

The idea of moral authority was discussed when rhetoric was taught by the ancients. (Rhetoric is the art of persuasion.) Aristotle, for example, wrote a book on rhetoric. In it he argues there are three key ingredients that constitute an effective persuasive speech. They are logos, pathos and ethos.

Logos pertains to the reasonableness of any speech. Is the conclusion supported by the premises given? Pathos pertains to passion. The corresponding question here is, has the speaker sufficiently affected the emotions of the audience? Ethos pertains to the character of the speaker.

Of Ethos, Aristotle writes, &amp;amp;amp;quot;Persuasion is achieved by the speakers’ personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily that others: This is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true when exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided… his character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he possesses&amp;amp;amp;quot; (Modern Library, p. 25).

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul appeals to his moral authority. He reminds the church that he did not come to them in word alone, or in vain, or of error, or motivated by uncleanness, or of guile. He did not come pleasing men. He did not use words of flattery, or a cloak of covetousness. He did not seek the glory of men nor preach the word of men. It is here that he writes, &amp;amp;amp;quot;…we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (2:6-8).

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Where does your story begin?

When Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4), she said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship” (4:20).

Jesus said, “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.”

Think with me for a moment of other significant places of the past and present. For the ancient Greeks, Delphi was as important a place as can be imagined. Since the eighth century BC, the Greeks believed that the god Apollo spoke through the priestess, the Pythia, at the shrine in Delphi, the spiritual heart of Hellenistic civilization. Situated on the southern slopes of Mount Parnassus, with the Gulf of Corinth below, the shrine was believed to be at the center of the world. Inscribed on the portals of the Delphic shrine were two expressions of wisdom aspired to by the ancient Greeks: “Know thyself” and “Nothing to excess.” Consultants would journey to the oracle to seek counsel, relying upon Apollo’s superior insight. Individuals sought advice on personal matters, such as marriage or vocation. Even cities beseeched the oracle prior to important ventures, such as waging a war or adopting a constitution (p. 56, &amp;amp;amp;quot;Socrates against Athens,&amp;amp;amp;quot; Colaiaco).

For many philosophers, Athens is the starting place. Some have argued that at no other time was the soil as ripe as it was to produce thinkers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

Consider the impact the mere mention of Mecca has on the Islamic world. It is the place where Muhammad was born. It is a place toward which Muslim’s bow and pray every day. It is the place countless thousands travel every year as they make their holy pilgrimage to the religious capital of their faith. It is the holiest of Muslim cities. And because it is holy only Muslims are allowed to enter.

For the Christian, Jerusalem is the setting for the beginning of our story. The Old Testament prophets foretold it would begin in Jerusalem (Isa. 2; Joel 2; Micah 2; Dan. 2), and Luke validates the claims of the prophets with the history recorded in Acts 2.

Where does your story begin? The beginning point you choose, whether it be Delphi, Athens, Mecca, Salt Lake City or Jerusalem will determine how your story ends.

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