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| Life of Pi- Ang Lee |
"Above all, do not lose hope" says Pi to himself in the movie, "Life of Pi" and this too in a situation where he is stranded in the middle of the pacific, left alone to his own devices, and a tiger. He is grateful for the tigers presence, cries when Richard Parker leaves him without a goodbye. Might we be like him with our scary parts, our anger, our impatience, our confusions and our fierceness even? Can we let the tigers within just be?
Not unruly but with discipline. Can we tame our needs, our unconscious loathing of ourselves, the tigers of our life that will eat us up if we let them. Can we tame them, discipline them and even come to love them as the keepers of our awareness? Just like Richard Parker helped Pi stay aware and fully awake, despite despairing life situations, can we be aware and alive amidst our mess and not let the perceived meannness, anger, cruelty, fear and hate arising within and without eat us up?
Pi traverses the pacific alone, with Richard Parker, the tiger. He fears him, he cries because of him, he even comes close to killing him. But then, something happens. He cannot kill Richard Parker. He is his only companion in this scary vast ocean that he is stranded in, without any comfort, without family, without friends. So, what then? Does he let the tiger eat him eventually? No, he respects the tigers fierceness, its nature and embraces him as friend. Taming him by feeding him, cleaning up after him and letting him live with him.
Our darkness, our scary parts, when welcomed to stay-as tamed and respected, become our companions, holding the torch of awareness in every situation we encounter. Eventually, when they leave we might even cry because they went away, just like that. No ceremony, no parting words, not even a goodbye.
For a film review read the review by Passion for Movies
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Oooo - I love this! - "letting the tigers within us just be." "Taming the tiger by embracing the tiger." Yes! "To love them as the keepers of our awareness." Beautiful...
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine :-) The movie and the book are spectacular! See the movie if you get a chance.
DeleteHaven't seen the film yet, but loved the book, and your description of the spirit of Pi. When I read the book, I found two threads interesting, the first being that of freedom and choice, and the other being the illusory nature of subjective reality. At the end of the book, I realized that what I had experienced was a deeply internal journey, unrelated to the story and the characters. The questions did not revolve so much around what happened in the story but around what happened in me as I was reading it, linking it back to my values, experiences, and choices. I feel that is the hallmark of great writing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Subho! Its so funny, many people who read it tell me they saw the philosophy beneath the story right off the bat. For me it was an intensely engaging book. I felt like I travelled across the pacific with Pi and Richard. I hadnt realized this amazing other perspective till we sat down and spoke about it in our book club! I suppose the power of story telling in itself won huge brownie points from my end. And this realization ofcourse, that I write about here is a brilliant icing on the cake!
DeleteOooh - thank you! I can't wait to see this, but can't decide if I should read the book first or just enjoy the visual...so excited to delve into the depths of it all!
ReplyDelete:-) Hey Lisa! Ang Lee has done a brilliant job with the movie. If you are craving for visual delight the movie is a must see. Its such a lovely 3rd film, kids will love it too. Its a challenge though, i dont know either which you should do first-the book or the movie..they are both brilliant.
DeleteLoved the movie and the book.
ReplyDeleteLoved your thoughts on it! Imagine, I read it while I was living in France! The experience was so so cathartic for me. It is a brilliant book open to so many interpretations!