Life of Pi

I have been thinking for quite some time what can I shared about this wonderful story, the Life of Pi, which I loved watching so much. This story has so much to teach us about life, touching almost every aspect from spirituality, mentality to reality. All credits to the author, Yann Martel, for writing this amzing piece of story.

Here are some of the finest quotes taken from the movie, courtesy of this website:
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1392700-life-of-pi

About self-doubt...

"To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."

Lesson: Life stops whenever there is self-doubt.

About belief...

"If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?"

Lesson: Life happens only when you start to believe its magic and miracles.

About fear...

"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."

Lesson: You have to learn to express your fear, confront it and defeat it, before it attacks you further and defeats you.

 About association...

"It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names."

Lesson: Associating with the right people brings positive changes to your life.

About family...

"To lose a brother is to lose someone with whom you can share the experience of growing old, who is supposed to bring you a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews, creatures who people the tree of your life and give it new branches. To lose your father is to lose the one whose guidance and help you seek, who supports you like a tree trunk supports its branches. To lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you. It is like losing--I'm sorry, I would rather not go on."

Lesson:  There is more to a family than just blood relation.

 About regrets...

"It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse."

Lesson: Never take things for granted.

 About staying positive...

"You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it."

Lesson: Be grateful with what you get in life and make the best of it.

 About perspective...

"The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?"

Lesson: Life is like a story, you choose how you understand it or write it.

 About survival...

"All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive."

Lesson: Sometimes humans do mad things moving out from their comfort zone in order to adapt and survive.

 About spirituality...

"These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside. They should direct their anger at themselves. For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart."

Lesson: Spirituality starts from inside your heart, not from the things you do outside.

 About perseverence...

"I was giving up. I would have given up - if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen everyday. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen."

Lesson: When things get tough against you, listen to your inner voice, hold on to your beliefs and persevere, for miracles do happen.