Zoo = Religion ?!?!

"I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

        To understand why is Pi comparing zoo to religion we have to know what he had to say about each thing. As a boy, Pi spend most of his time in the Pondicherry Zoo where Mr. Patel owns, he considern this as a paradise. But he heard many people saying negative things about zoo-how human trap these poor creatures in a cage and limit their freedom when they want to be free, but he disagrees.

        Before we go on, you should think for yourself, is it better for animal to live in zoo, or set free? Let's anaylsis some biological facts about animals-they need food and water to strenghten themselves and they need good shelter to live and protect themselves. So in a zoo, an animal is provided with food and water, and they don't need to worry about protecting themselves because they have a shelter of their own, basically like a hotel. They even have room service, which help clean their place and it also provide medical care, the best of all, you don't need to tip them! On the other hand, an animal in the wild need to find food for themselves and they need to protect and find a safe place to live. Is this the freedom they want?

        If they have "freedom", they will automatically need to hunt for their own food and find a safe and comfortable shelter to live and protect themselves. Food, water shelter...these are not factors the animal want, these are things that they NEED, these are natural law they have to follow or else they will die. But if all these things were already provided in the zoo, why would they even want to go out and search for them?

        Looking at all these cartoon movies about how animals want to escape zoo to see what's out there and gain freedom, it is just ridiculous! How do we know that? Are we them? Or are we just attributing our thoughts and personality unto an animal? You need to realize how dangerous is to anthropomorphize an animal, this will lead us into a misunderstanding of what is true and we will just be trap in our "opinions" of what we believe is true! This is really foolish!

Religion = Freedom ?

        Zoo is providing the freedom, but people misinterprete it because of the large fence that surrounded them, but in the same way, people may be misinterpreting about freedom in religion. Often times people only see all these kinds of "do's" and "don't" within a religion and they will just think, "Man, they have no freedom...they are so trapped in what they think will save them." Really? Religion...trapped? People think that freedom is when they get to believe or disbelieve in anything they want, like the agnostic. They do not contribute any faith to the existence of god, and they think this is freedom because they get to believe in whatever they want, but in reality, they are just restricting themselves from believing in a greater and divine being. Just like the animals in the zoo, you see all these long and metal bar that trap them inside a small area and you immediately suppose that they have no freedom, but if you look deeper and wider beyond the bars, you will see all these food, water, and shelter that were provided. The animals have "freedom" to choose whether to accept the things that were provided or not because it's just there, it will not run away. On the other hand, an animal in the wild doesn't get to choose what to eat for dinner today or where to sleep today, they just have to do it because they need it! Not that they want it or anything, they don't have a choice! So is this the freedom many people are talking about?

        The "do's" and "don't" in a religion is like the metal bar cage that surround the animals. Many people see it as a trap, but it's actually an asylum that bring peace and secure to all who is inside. Those who are outside wondering around like they are "free" are actually in danger, because they don't know who or what is around waiting to hunt them down. They think they are free but actually they don't have a choice, they are living in their opinions that they believe were true...how pathetic it is? But in order for them to realize that they were actually trapped, they need to experience freedom first. They need to first be in an enclosure to see freedom from the true side, but how is it possible for someone to see if they believe they are free already?

        Connect to this theme, Pi also states that, "Irrational number with which scientists try to understand the universe, I found refuge."

Irrational: unreasonable, illegtimate, and ridiculous

        So in the unreasonable and ridiculous truth that everyone else try to explain, he found refuge. Pi found his refuge in what others don't believe, like religion. You can't explain it and you can't reason it, and it requires great amount of faith.

Faith: confidence and hope in believing what is cannot be seen

        You cannot see the true freedom of an animal from the outside when all you see in your eyes are the great metal bars that enclose them, in the same way, you cannot see and understand the true freedom that religion provide if all you see are the "do's" and "don't".

So who's really the one without freedom and liberty?