All Religions Are True

This novel didn’t strike me as one that would get me thinking from religious standpoint. I went in unsure of what to expect. All I had ever heard about Life of Pi was that “oh that’s a good book!” What’s so great about it? Shipwreck—we’ve had plenty of those. Animals—based on last semester, you can safely say there are PLENTY of those. Differing cultures—there’s a fair share of those books as well. And at this point in the novel, I’m still unsure of what to expect, but I can venture a guess. Shipwrecked, orphaned, and terrified of being eaten by a giant tiger, the question of faith pops up in my mind. I believe I can safely say that everyone will go through a point in their life that will cause them to question their faith. Whether it could be losing that faith—death in the family, continuous runs of bad luck, unrequited love or gaining faith—witnessing some miraculous event that gives you this insight into something greater, there is always that point in your life.

For me, I’d have trouble trusting that greater force who just let my family die and left me stranded with zoo animals in the middle of the ocean (possibly to face death soon as well). But maybe these events make us stronger in the end. We have a stronger belief in what is out there and why things happen. We are taught from a young age that “everything happens for a reason.” But does it really? Who’s to say that’s true? I don’t even know if Pi knows if that’s true anymore. After such a loss, what could the reasoning be behind that? But I’ve thought that maybe this reason comes from the fact that all events in life play out in a certain way that will never change. Time, until the end of time, is set in stone and events will happen as they have been planned by some greater figure.

My best friend, Emily, and I are not the most religious people. We talk occasionally and when we do, it’s speculating leaves me wondering. One time, I asked her we discussed what happened to atheists after they died. She replied, as though it was obvious, “God forgives them for not believing and they go to heaven anyway.” I had always thought that the case was different. I wondered—if people did not believe in a heaven, how could they arrive there in the end. Atheists clearly did not desire an afterlife, so would they get it anyway? My faith has never wavered in my belief that there is something out there for us to grasp onto. A greater force or divine being, or sorts, to create, protect, guide. But as for everything in between, I remain relatively lost. And after talking to Emily, my belief remains firm in that God is ultimately forgiving and that good people (no matter what they believe) will be rewarded in the best way God sees fit. Perhaps Gandhi was right when he said “All religions are true” (69).

So what if you could practice more than one religion? To me, there are beauties in every religion. My friend told me the other day that he disagrees with practicing more than one religion. He insisted that they could not all follow the same God unknowingly. Ever since I was young, though, I had thought that this was true. That we may all have different religions and traditions and who we follow—but in the end we may all end up in the same place. It is a beautiful thing to me that, despite all our differences in religion, we as humans could all end up together someday. No longer torn apart by our religious prejudices but thrown together. “One nation [in the sky], one passport” (73). Pi’s father discusses how the three different religions can’t work together, stating about Muslims “’They’re outsiders’” (75). I never see people of different religions as outsiders, but that word is there. Different.

Maybe we don’t have to be so different someday. I like Pi’s unwavering faith. He has firm beliefs that he can practice all three religions and no one can tell him otherwise. He is so certain of the three religions he practices and I am confident (I haven’t read it yet!) that this will ultimately guide him throughout the rest of this novel.