Allusions: Tsimtsum (the ship)

Tsimtsum: the Shattering of a Vessel

Life of Pi Cinematic Poster

The Tsimstum is the name of the boat that is supposed to take Pi's family from Manila to Canada, but sinks in the Pacific.

This is a major allusion in the book, but we don't realize it because we aren't familiar with Hebrew, or Japanese. I couldn't find a translation from Japanese, but it did come up with many Hebrew results. Hebrew seems to be a common language in the Bible, and is also commonly associated with Jewish people. Since Pi is quite religious, I decided to see what Tsimtsum was alluding to. So here is my weak attempt at understanding articles about Tsimstum.

What is is:

Tzimtzum (Hebrew) means that God is contracting his infinite light to make a space for an independent creation. It also means that in order to convey knowledge, the teacher must reduce his messages to one simple line of thought in order to share it with a pupil; a circle/cycle of interrelated ideas must be turned into a parable (story.) It is about being present while you are absent; or since God is everything, he can withdraw himself to make something that is not God (i.e. the physical world,) explaining the presence of evil, and how it is not a part of him.

Once God's infinite light receded, he could create not Adam, but Adam Kadmon, which was more like his image as the sum of all souls. The light and energy from this Adam Kadmon created vessels (containers) for more of the infinite light. But Adam's light was less controlled than God's, which shattered the vessels, and in turn, broke Adam Kadmon into individual souls. These souls became exiled and lost, and now each has turned into a human soul. The goal for humanity is to reunite the pieces of souls so Adam Kadmon can co-exist with God again.

How it relates to Life of Pi:

The first thing God must do when creating and independent being (Pi) is to retract his infinite light (omnipresence.) I believe this points to the dangerous storm and conditions that caused so much hardship to Pi. The Vessel (the ship) was shattered, just as Adam Kadmon's vessels were. It broke the complexity of Pi's story in Part One (Pondicherry childhood) into a story of a singular and concentrated goal; survival, for Part Two (The Pacific,) just as God (the mentor) would need to reduce his omniscience circle of knowledge into specific thought for transferring wisdom to a newer being (pupil.) We are much more clear about the direction of Pi's main story when his goals are clearly defined (taming Richard Parker, fishing, staying alive,) and can learn more about how he became the man he was during the italicized interviews in Canada.

It could even be implied that Pi is like Adam Kadmon, who is created by Tzimtzum in God's image, once God removes himself. We already know that Pi's religious view is only to love God, and that a denomination does not matter so long as it is God. It is arguable that Pi seems closer to God than his three mentors of different churches, and that he sees all unified as one. Adam Kadmon may be in the image of God, but his power is not as contained as God's because he doesn't master Tzimtzum. When Pi reveals that he is the equivalent animal to the tiger, Richard Parker, he has been trying to master his own strength for the entire book. Richard Parker is described as Pi to be beautiful and terrible, but the only thing that could keep him alive; despite the threat of constant danger if Pi lost control of himself.

When Pi does lose control (due to incredible horrors of butchering and cannabalism on the lifeboat) he destroys another human life in revenge. In part two, he describes this as the hyena and Blind Frenchman on the second lifeboat being devoured by Richard Parker, when really, Pi stabs the ship's cook for killing the sailor (the Zebra) and Pi's mother (the Orang-utan, Orange Juice.) He ends the story of the blind man with stating that he prays for the man's soul everyday after; and that Pi's own blindness is lifted.

However, like Adam Kadmon, the souls lost as the result of the Tzimtzum shattering cannot be recovered by Pi. His family's (and the crew's souls) were lost at sea, the other world, just like Adam's pieces. Because one cannot explain God, Pi cannot explain the Tsimtsu sinking. Once he tells the Japanese representatives both stories, they decide they prefer the one with the animals instead of a cannabalistic crew member and homicide. The animal story is the one with God, and to paraphrase the Japanese representative, the life with God and the animals is preferable. 

And Pi replies, "Thank you. And so it goes with God."

What this allusion/symbol means to me, and to reading:

Some of the more obvious allusions (e.g. Crown of Thorns) were more part of the descriptive language to me, but others, like the one above on the ship, changed my point of view towards the book. For a long time I struggled with understanding how Pi could justify his  belief in God despite losing his family and his identity (such as vegetarianism) and witnessing horrendous violence at the hands of his brutish benefactor aboard the lifeboat. These are questions I've always asked of religion, if God is omnibenevolent, how could evil be present in the world? No one has been able to give me this answer, ever (and not for lack of asking.) The idea presented in Tzimtzum has given me a reasonable enough explanation for a second look; especially since I've never liked Genesis much with its talking snake and original sin.

The explanation of Adam Kadmon in God's image may not be secular, but it adds clarity to the creation story of the Old Testament. Assuming you know Genesis, God makes something from nothing. But if God is everything, how can it be nothing? When He retracts his infinite light, it creates a vacuum in which to create the universe. It is when God 'abandons' Pi that his trial begins, just as Adam Kadmons'. He does not strive to gain power, but to control what he already has alongside God, his creator. It makes sense for Pi/Adam's identity and struggle to co-exist with a perfect God.

This idea of how Pi could preserve his love for a God that abandoned him is now supported by something very subtle, but it assisted me in understanding how Pi's faith was steadfast throughout the book.