Chris Review 6; The Tao of Pooh

The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Hoff

I’ll start with a caveat, but one that hopefully gives a positive impression regarding mindset towards the book. It’s that I have already read it twice before. It’s turning into, at least for me, one of those books that you hear people talk about, where you read it on repeat with big year gaps in the middle, and therefore get different things out of it as a reflection of the changing self.

And the last of that sentence came out as ‘the changing self,’ something that caught my eye as a way that I might write generally, but much more straight after having read the book. Taoist literature and mindset making me feel and sound a little more Yoda-like while the thoughts are still resonating within my system. Definitely in terms of grammar, and hopefully, at least for a while, in terms of philosophy and wisdom as influencing approach to life.

As funny as it sounds as a premise, in that one of the “Three Teachings” of Chinese philosophy (i.e. Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) is being explained through a Western prism via Winnie the Pooh, this book works; both as a read, and in terms of highlighting the things it wants to convey.

It’s quite a short book overall, and in that there’s both illustrations and large sections of quotes straight from the source materials, i.e. both A.A. Milne with Winnie the Pooh, as well as Taoist texts and characters, e.g. Lao-se and Chuang-tse. These messages and quotes interweave with the thread of the argument being made by Hoff as the author to make a simple, page-turning read.

The structure of the book is to lay foundations of the tenets of the philosophy one by one, chapter by chapter – not exhaustively so, but enough to give a view as to how both the Taoists, and the Bear, approach life. Much of this being along the lines that we can trip ourselves up through our cleverness, over-thinking and over-analysis, instead of just seeing with an open mind what is in front of us, and dealing with things how they are, rather than how we would otherwise have them to be.

The Tao (or Dao, depending on how the Chinese is translated) is in literal translation ‘The Way.’ In it, the universe is bigger and more complicated than we on the human scale can conceive, let alone express with words. But we can appreciate it for what it is. The book highlights a range of principles invoked in Taoism, such as P’u, or ‘the uncarved block,’ or giving over to things their innate and natural beauty and function. Or Wu Wei, described as ‘without doing, causing, or making,’ but also highlighted as an ‘inner sensitivity to the natural rhythms of things,’ or, in other words, the benefits of going with the flow.

There’s a range of other aspects highlighted, but hopefully these examples convey the point.

Where The Adventures of Pooh come in is in terms of the settings and actions of the stories, but most heavily in terms of the characters as archetypal representations. Owl and Rabbit as over-thinkers that keep themselves inflated with ego and busy in life, who over-think or over-act, running around thinking they know everything but not actually getting much done, let alone done anywhere near efficiently. Eeyore in there as well, proud of intellect but unable to find a way to be happy in himself, and often for his cleverness and knowing things, not knowing how to be kind or understanding to others.

It is instead Pooh, the ‘Little Bear, of Little Mind,’ that is shown in various stories and adventures as saving the day. Finding Eeyore’s lost tail, or again with Eeyore, finding a way out of the river that no one else could see. Being himself, being happy in the moment, and having things generally work out pretty well for him and around him. And it is in this that the Venn Diagram overlap of Pooh and Taoism comes out in the telling.

Again, this is a small book, a simple book, an easy read for what I’m sure are often much more complicated messages. In reflecting on its own message, it is doing as it is saying - and in this, it is a success.

For me in reading it again, it came at a stage when I’d been rattling around in my own thoughts a little bit too long, over-thinking and still concerned about progress in projects that lay close to my heart. In reading it again, it once again reminded me of things forgotten. It gave a peace of mind, and gentle self-mocking ‘yeah, I do that’ humour along with it, and a chance to reflect and get out of my own way. Not just enjoyable, but this time around, a timely read

While I can’t promise myself or anyone else long-term sustained capture and utility of wisdom by reading the book, I would bet that the majority will find it one or more of four things, i). a good read, ii). thought-provoking, iii). humorous, and iv). Wanting to pick up the source materials, both Taoist texts as well as The House on Pooh Corner.

I can’t imagine this to be to everyone’s cup of tea, but it was definitely mine. Again. And I’m sure that in a few years, it will be - again.

Not a bad ask of a book owning space on one’s shelves.

Chris O’Malley

Book review for “The Tao of Pooh,” by Benjamin Hoff – ISBN: 9781405293785