Inner Life of Pi

People who know me well have heard me say, in answer to the question, "What do you do?" or "What are you doing these days?": "I have a rich inner life." I do! And I read a lot.

Today I am going back to Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, to pages 70-71, where I stuck a pink mini-post-it note so I wouldn't forget to share these two paragraphs with you on some Slattern Day in the blog during Advent. Pi, an interfaith guy, has been patient in the face of mockery and ostracism for his ability to study and practice religions that usually don't get along with each other.

"There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something weak and helpless. These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, "Business as usual." But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.

"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. Meanwhile, the lot of widows and homeless children is very hard, and it is to their defence, not God's, that the self-righteous should rush."

So there.

And now I can say goodbye to that pink mini-post-it note.  And now, thanks to Rei at Wikipedia, here is some inner life of blackberry pie with ice cream.