Creative Calamities

I first became aware of the book Life of Pi more than a year ago, when the image of a small brown skinned boy curled up in a fetal position on a life boat with a tiger four times his size caught my eye, one day at the library. I have checked the book out three times before it finally took hold.

I thought to mention the book several times as it has perfectly enthralled me. I have chucked often, and thought deeply as well. I appreciate the wonderfully sculpted words of the author Yann Martel. One image that made me chuckle with delight was the encounter at a zoo between Pi (the protagonist) and two of his religious mentors, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Kumar.

I have yet to finish, but this quote grab ahold of me last night and I felt the need to to share.

“I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always … so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.”

— Yann Martel – Life of Pi