Pi loves to argue with Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba (well, mainly with Mr. Okamoto). Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba doubt Pi's story, which really insults Pi. In response, Pi asserts one of the guiding principles of his life. The most beautiful and important experiences are "hard to believe," but that doesn't mean they're illusions. Love and God are hard to believe. The existence of human beings also seems like a miracle. Whether or not Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba agree with the rest of what Pi says, Pi's own existence – at this point – is a miracle.

To Pi, Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba have a limited view of science. The Japanese investigators think that science's method of rational inquiry discredits the miraculous. However, Pi thinks of science differently. He sees science as yet another gateway to the wondrous and miraculous. Perhaps it's not so hard to see his point. When Copernicus removed the earth from the celestial center of the universe, people must have been shocked. Because science brings us to new and undiscovered things, Pi's thinks science encourages our faith in the "hard to believe" (see Themes: Spirituality 3.99.109-113).

Nice rebuttal, Pi. Mr. Pi Patel admits to reason's effectiveness: it helped him get food and water; it helped him train Richard Parker; all said, it let him fight for his own survival. But Pi also thinks Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba should be careful with reason. Sure, it's an effective tool. Perhaps because reason is so effective, it tempts us to use only it to understand the world. However, if we limit our understanding of the world to what reason can explain, we'll miss some amazing things. For Pi, those include God, the miraculous, and his story.