Life of Pi Part 1, Chapter 7 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
[Pi:] "Religion will save us," I said. Since when I could remember, religions had always been close to my heart.
"Religion?" Mr. Kumar grinned broadly. "I don't believe in religion. Religion is darkness."
Darkness? I was puzzled. I thought, Darkness is the last thing that religion is. Religion is light. Was he testing me? Was he saying, "Religion is darkness," the way he sometimes said in class things like "Mammals lay eggs," to see if someone would correct him? ("Only platypuses, sir.") (1.7.9-11)
For the first time, Pi learns his biology teacher, Mr. Kumar, is an atheist. Certainly Mr. Kumar confuses Pi. Mr. Kumar extols the virtues of science (see Themes: Science 1.7.12 and 1.7.16) and, on some level, convinces Pi. For Pi, however, the light of science doesn't cancel out the light of religion. Both coexist and simply shed more light on his world.
Quote 2
I'll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted to doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. (1.7.21)
Pi's education includes both science and religion; he comes to love both these disciplines. But agnosticism – the suspension of belief (e.g., "I don't have enough evidence to believe in God so I won't commit one way or the other.") – drives the boy bonkers. For Pi, belief is one of the most beautiful actions of human life. To live otherwise is to live statically. One can either choose a rich, dynamic life or a static, uncommitted life.
Quote 3
He was a regular visitor who read the labels and descriptive notices in their entirety and approved of every animal he saw. Each to him was a triumph of logic and mechanics, and nature as a whole was an exceptionally fine illustration of science. To his ears, when an animal felt the urge to mate, it said "Gregor Mendel", recalling the father of genetics, and when it was time to show its mettle, "Charles Darwin", the father of natural selection, and what we took to bleating, grunting, hissing, snorting, roaring, growling, howling, chirping and screeching were but the thick accents of foreigners. When Mr. Kumar visited the zoo, it was always to take the pulse of the universe, and his stethoscopic mind always confirmed to him that everything was in order, that everything was order. (1.7.2)
Pi's biology teacher sees the world in a certain way: as ordered, and alive with the precepts of science. Pi revels in the various and contradictory worldviews of his friends and teachers: the other Mr. Kumar sees God's sacred creation in the zoo. The animals must see something entirely different. Pi's father sees a business. For Pi, science, like religion, is a system of thought we place on the world to understand it. Pi delights in all these systems of thought and creates relgio-scientific patchwork of belief. Sounds complicated, but Pi simply delights in all forms of faith – and he thinks science is no different than religion.
Quote 4
[Mr. Kumar to Pi:] "There are no grounds for going beyond a scientific explanation of reality and no sound reason for believing anything but our sense experience. A clear intellect, close attention to detail and a little scientific knowledge will expose religion as superstitious bosh. God does not exist." (1.7.12)
Pi's biology teacher, Mr. Kumar, rails against religion. Pi doesn't know what to say. We know Pi admires Mr. Kumar quite a lot, but we also know Pi has a deep belief in God. When Pi takes stock of his supplies on the lifeboat, he organizes and lists with a scientific fervor. We might even say with "[a] clear intellect, close attention to detail and a little scientific knowledge" (1.7.12). For Pi, these tools don't necessarily mean that God doesn't exist. All harmonize in his democratic little noggin.
Quote 5
[Mr. Kumar to Pi:] "When I was your age, I lived in bed, racked with polio. I asked myself every day, 'Where is God? Where is God? Where is God?' God never came. It wasn't God who saved me – it was medicine. Reason is my prophet and it tells me that as a watch stops, so we die. It's the end. If the watch doesn't work properly, it must be fixed here and now by us. One day we will take hold of the means of production and there will be justice on earth." (1.7.16)
Mr. Kumar shares – quite openly – his personal story. The story perhaps helps Pi to see why Mr. Kumar attaches himself so fiercely to science. Science saved him from polio, not God. If we want to improve our lot on earth, we need to use tools of this earth: science and reason, not divine revelation. Even though Pi must disagree with Mr. Kumar, he still takes some of it to heart. During his ordeal on the ocean Pi says, "Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway's worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little. [...]. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one's life away." (see Themes: Spirituality 2.58.9)