Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love-but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was thinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would think to the very bottom of Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up. At such moments I tried to elevate myself. I would touch the turban I had made with the remnants of my shirt and I would say aloud, "This is God's hat!" I would pat my pants and say aloud, "This is God's attire!" I would point to Richard Parker and say aloud "This is God's cat!" I would point to the lifeboat and say aloud, "This is God's ark!" I would spread my hands wide and say aloud, "These are God's wide acres!" I would point at the sky and say aloud, "This is God's ear!" And in this I would remind myself of creation and of my place in it. But God's hat was always unravelling. God's pants were falling apart. God's cat was a constant danger. God's ark was a jail. God's wide acres were slowly killing me. God's ear didn't seem to be listening. Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in our out. It was a hell beyond expression. I thank God it always past. A school of fish appeared around the net or a knot cried out to be reknotted. Or I thought of my family, of how they were spared this terrible agony. The blackness would stir and eventually go away, a God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.

(Yann Martel "Life of Pi")