{"id":706,"date":"2013-01-19T12:01:53","date_gmt":"2013-01-19T19:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/?p=706"},"modified":"2013-01-19T12:03:39","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T19:03:39","slug":"life-of-pi-and-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/life-of-pi-and-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Life of Pi and Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This from a message to an old friend:\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Neil, you’re in my thoughts this morning for two reasons. \u00a0First, I am listening to my Telemann Pandora station and I will forever appreciate your turning me on to him those many years ago. \u00a0Second – we saw Life of Pi<\/em> yesterday.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Years ago you went on and on about how much you loved that book and I tried to read it but could not get too far. \u00a0It wasn’t grabbing me. \u00a0So last week, thinking I wanted to see the movie, I picked up the book again and loved it. \u00a0I didn’t quite get the part about making you believe in God until the night after I finished it, I was putting together a dinner for some friends the next night and Mark l was over helping out (he was visiting from So. Cal. for a week) and he had just seen the movie. \u00a0We compared one to the other and suddenly I\u00a0got<\/em>\u00a0what Martel was trying to say. \u00a0I started talking about how I was so swept up in the story until he became blind and then came across the other guy on a boat that the tiger ate and I thought, “Whoa…wait a minute. \u00a0That is pretty incredible. \u00a0(It was left out of the movie.) \u00a0The whole part before that was very detailed and you could absolutely get how it could all actually occur. \u00a0But another boat in the middle of the ocean? \u00a0And then, of course, the meerkat island. \u00a0Suddenly I began to feel differently about the story – I lost interest because I didn’t find it credible any longer. \u00a0Then at the end he tells this very troubling story\u00a0and he lays it all out for you\u00a0(and of course there\u00a0are<\/em>\u00a0those little bones on the boat)\u00a0. \u00a0Which story do you want to believe – neither is provable.<\/p>\n

I think it is also relevant to therapy work. \u00a0People come in with such worries and hopelessness about their future. \u00a0But just as with Pi’s story, the future is unknowable and unprovable. \u00a0Clearly, when people come in and talk about a future of loneliness or loss or failure their present is wracked with anxiety and they are preoccupied with their distress. \u00a0 If a person has some faith in the future, trust that they can be content and satisfied, their present distress abates considerably. \u00a0So, just as with Pi, which story do they want to believe?<\/p>\n

The movie was a bit of a let down from the book, insofar as the basic theme above is concerned, I thought. \u00a0The book format allowed Martel to create a very credible story of how Pi was able to survive – and the whole early parts about animal behavior was essential to that task. \u00a0So, with the exception of the island, you could believe that story…well\u00a0I<\/em>\u00a0could believe that story. \u00a0Ang Lee didn’t have the time or space to make the survival story as credible, I think. \u00a0But my oh my was that a beautiful movie. \u00a0I think it is the most enchanting cinema experience I have ever had. \u00a0It is watching an absolute master at his craft and an impeccable use of 3-D.<\/p>\n

Anyway, just thinking of you on this chill, foggy, still and beautiful Northwest morning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This from a message to an old friend: Neil, you’re in my thoughts this morning for two reasons. \u00a0First, I am listening to my Telemann Pandora station and I will forever appreciate your turning me on to him those many years ago. \u00a0Second – we saw Life of Pi yesterday. \u00a0Years ago you went on Continue reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[30,31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=706"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/josephshaub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}