Life of Pi: Dwelling with a Tiger in a Lifeboat

I saw Life of Pi last night.
Here is what I came away with:

• Each of us has survived a life storm of some sort, the trauma of birth, etc.
• We each find ourselves out to sea in a lifeboat with a tiger (the wild , uncontrollable energy of life)... I do.
• How we relate to this tiger determines our life experience.
• The story we prefer to favor is either one that deals with the tiger or one that attempts to deny the tiger.
• The story that faces the tiger can awaken, enliven and free us to the what it is to live in this world.
• The story that attempts to deny the tiger puts us to sleep, dulls us and keeps us in mental and emotional chains.
• Any story perspective can be used to either face or deny the tiger (science, spirituality, art, humor, relationships, etc.).
• All the ways humans numb themselves with drugs, alcohol, judgement, religion, politics, worry, etc. can be attempts to escape the lifeboat and the tiger.
• The story that there is no story or that life is an arbitrary collection of subjective stories can be an attempt to deny the tiger and can put us to sleep in the name of awakening.
• Conclusion: When I feel more alive and connected I am dealing with my core relationship to the tiger. When I feel dull and isolated I am attempting to deny and avoid the tiger.

Enjoy wrestling with your tiger!

Contemporary Sacred Place at Skyspace by James Turrell

Places for gazing into the Mystery are created wherever people settle. From ancient caves through stone cathedrals to contemporary steel and glass structures, the builders of each era use current technologies to sculpt openings from their cultures into timelessness. James Turrell's Skyspace at Rice University is a sacred space for our times. It transcends religion and philosophy and invites us to directly experience the overlap of energy and matter, light and shadow, the heavens and the earth.