Book Review: The Tao of Pooh: Benjamin Hoff

The book, 'The Tao of Pooh', written by Benjamin Hoff is an attempt to explain the principles of the Chinese philosophy of Tao through the eyes of Winnie the Pooh, a famous character created by A.A.Milne in the book by the same name.

Winnie is a simpleminded bear that spends his time enjoying life and taking it as it comes. The philosophy of Tao deals with simplifying life by simplifying thoughts and actions. This meeting of minds between Tao and the life philosophy of Winnie forms the genesis of  the book Tao of Pooh.

This delightful book of about 170 pages, divided over 9 chapters, packs a truckload of wisdom. So let us dive right in....

As per the Tao philosophy, explained by Lao-tse (LAOdsuh) in his book 'Tao Te Ching' (DAO DE JEENG), the earth was a reflection of heaven, run by the same laws. These laws not only affect the spinning of the distant planets, but also the activities of living beings on earth. The problem arises when man tries to interfere with the laws of the world. When that happens, the natural balance generated by universal laws is impacted and the harmony between man and nature is affected. Everything has its nature within it and any violation of the nature will cause difficulties making the life sour.

As per Lao-tse, the 'Tao' ('The Way) operated everything behind heaven and earth. While the Tao cannot be described in words, it could be experienced and understood. The teachings of Lao-tse were cumulated over centuries to form the philosophy of Taoism. From the Taoist point of view, the natural result of living in harmony with Tao is happiness. Life becomes sour when we interfere with natural laws. When lived in harmony with Tao life becomes sweet.

One of the important concepts in Tao is P’u, the Uncarved Block. The essence of the principle of the Uncarved Block is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural  power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed.

This basic Taoist principle applies not only to things in their natural beauty and function, but to people as well. Taoist ideal is that of the still, calm, reflecting "mirror-mind" of the uncarved Block. Instead of acquiring knowledge for making things simple, people try to acquire knowledge for one of the three things: to appear clever, to appear wise or to complain about things.

When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.

From the state of the Uncarved Block comes the ability to enjoy the simple and the quiet, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do things spontaneously and have them work.

How are Confucians different from Taoists? Confucians focused on acquiring knowledge while Taoists focused on acquiring experience. While the former slices and dices, the latter integrates. Confucians know words like tree, flower etc, while Taoist know how it feels to climb a tree or prune a flower. Confucians are focused on the parts while Taoists are focused on the whole, the gestalt. Confucians are like the frogs in the well that do not know the majesty of the ocean. Confucians see focus on the punctuation, comma and periods, while missing the essence of the poem.

While analysing traits and characteristics and habits and likes and dislikes, the intelligent people miss the most important thing that makes a man, his inner nature. Knowing the inner nature means knowing what one can do and what one can't. Clever people are always trying to fit square peg in a round hole. They do not understand their limitations and are always trying to learn new things. They are always trying to improve themselves, trying to remove their bad habits, but as the story of the 'house burglar turned soldier' illustrates, the better approach will be to try and convert a minus to a plus, or in other words, find ways to use the negative habits in a positive manner.

As illustrated in this beautiful story by Chuang-tse, every thing in this world has a purpose. The conflict arises when we do not understand its purpose and try to fit it to our needs.

One of the most important concepts in Taoism is the concept of Wu wei, which can be loosely described as going with the flow. Wu wei do not plan or worry about getting things done, they just do. Those who do things the Wu Wei, knows what to be done when, they rely a lot on their intuition. The problem is that over centuries, man has developed his mind to go against the natural laws. This mind tries too hard and wears itself out. When you work with Wu wei, there is no stress or struggle. Things get done.

Modernity has made busy people of us all. We plan to attain 'work life balance', which takes the fun out of the process. While we are exercising, we are working, checking out BP, pulse rate, number of steps that we walked, the number of calories we consumed...We miss seeing the beauty of nature or the purpose of that yellow flower in the middle of nowhere.

While results are important, it is equally important to enjoy the process, while goals are important, the process of goal attainment should be enjoyed. It is not the goal, but the process that makes us happier and wiser. While the goal should be in tune with our inner nature, it is the process that need to be enjoyed and treasured.

As the story of the Bisy Backson illustrates, sometimes you achieve your goal by simply standing idle and not doing anything. 

In order to take control of our lives and accomplish something of lasting value, sooner or later we need to learn to believe in the power that is within us. Belief comes from our heart, not from our head (intellect). An important concept in Taoism is Tz'u, which can be translated as "caring" or "compassion" and which is based upon the character for heart. Things done from the heart lead to passion and great accomplishment. 

To learn anything new, you have to unlearn old things. The get new things, you have to let go of old things. You have to empty your mind to receive new gifts. But most of us confuse emptiness of our mind with being lonely. So we fill our time trying to do more and more of the same, which increase our sense of loneliness. 

Only when your mind is empty, that you find your inner nature, what you are born to become, your true self.

Our society focus on knowledge and achievement, but to be truly successful, our focus should be on achieving wisdom and contentment. As one wise man once said, 'Knowledge accumulates, wisdom removes'. You have to learn to listen to your voice within, your inner nature, the voice of your intuition. Only by following your intuition that you can attain lasting peace and happiness.