Sunday Prayer

As you know, I've been on a Life of Pi kick this week, in part because of the new movie and research I did for an article at Policymic. The book has struck me (again) with the level of religious content. I'm particularly fascinated by how the author, Yann Martel, connects our different "habitats" - zoo enclosures, life boats, islands, and also religions as well as the realms of fictional and nonfictional storytelling. (From chapter 28):

I loved my prayer rug. Ordinary in quality though it was, it glowed with beauty in my eyes.... Wherever I laid it I felt a special affection for the patch of ground beneath it and the immediate surroundings, which to me is a clear indication that it was a good prayer rug because it helped me remember that the earth is the creation of God and sacred the same all over....

When I prayed, the short, unknotted tassels were inches from the tip of my forehead at one end of the carpet and inches from the tip of my toes at the other, a cozy size to make you feel at home anywhere upon this vast earth.