Life of Pi, 2

Death is a very strange event to imagine.  In Chapter 22 of Life of Pi, Pi is imaging the deaths of an agnostic and an atheist and what they are thinking just as the slip away from the realm of reality.  While the atheist is convinced by the glorious white light and immediately believes, the agnostic continues to doubt, even upon seeing the white light, writing it off as a possible glitch in his brains' functioning, brought about by death.  Death is not an event that I reflect upon often, and I somewhat prefer to keep it that way.  There has not been a lot of deaths in my family, and I never reflect on my own death, so I have never had a fear of death.  This short passage struck me because I can see myself in certain attitudes of atheist and agnostic people.  Just as I choose not to examine uncomfortable topics such as my own death, I think there are certainly times when I choose not to assess the quality of my life and my heart for fear of what I'll find there.  However, what disturbs me most about this passage is that death is imminent.  Unlike religion, where one can choose what they believe and cultivate a relationship with God that is personal, death is the same for everyone.  It is not a question of if it will happen, but when it will happen, and the reality that we cannot choose any of this for ourselves.  The positive thing though, which becomes clear in this passage, is that we can choose for ourselves the life we live, the way we cultivate our hearts and minds and souls, up until that point of departure from this earth.  In doing so, we will hopefully avoid having to come to a realization on our deathbed, of living a life that was not truly fulfilling.