Meerkats, Interpretation, and God

Life of Pi is a popular book about a boy in a canoe with a tiger in the ocean. To my surprise, I loved it. This book is nothing less than a sophisticated, fair, and modern justification for faith in God.

We hear a story about a boy on a fantastic journey of survival, a story that is almost unbelievable - at one point they reach a living island full of meerkats. At the end of the story, the boy (now an old man) tells his story to another man (or two men...I can't remember the details). Anyway, he doesn't believe the story. So he tells the man a more realistic story: he leaves out the tiger and the meerkats. The skeptical man says: "which one is the true one?" The narrator replies: the choice is up to you which story you want to believe. I gave you my story. Then I gave you an alternate story. Both could be true. You cannot verify either. The choice is up to you.

Forget about the details of the plot; this is all a metaphor for life, for how we perceive the world, for how we interpret events. If you're wondering whether a boy really could survive with a tiger, or whether a meerkat island could actually exist, you're probably missing the point. If you think that religion is a bunch of silly made up stories just to make people feel good, you are also missing the point of the book. Everything that happens in your life, everything that happens in the world, is perceived and interpreted in so many ways.That's what the book is about. There is meaning behind events, and we provide that meaning. Unless you are a Nihilist, everyone gives meaning to life in some way. The meaning becomes reality, a part of the event. The fantastical story is clearly a reference to a theistic interpretation of life, while the alternate story is a reference to a non-theist interpretation of life. The philosophical point is this: we really don't know which one is correct, thus we choose. Given that, the author is suggesting that a religious interpretation is preferable.

I agree.

Billions and billions of years ago, our universe came into existence. That's a fact. But why? Why does anything exist at all? And what does the Big Bang mean, if anything? That's up for interpretation. Now apply this to all events, big and small. That's life; that's the human condition - we are meaning seeking animals, and that's okay. I choose to believe God is behind all events.