Well, sorry Hoff but if we would follow your ideas, we would all still be living in the Middle Ages with our teeth falling out. For example, he talks about the theme of Enjoying the Process and Living in the Now, and he begins this chapter with a condescending critique of Western ideas of progress. There is some unbalanced anger between the lines that feels really out of place. In fact, he comes across as unjustly critical. And Hoff injects himself between these voices of wisdom but doesn’t sound wise himself. There are three voices in this book: the Tao te Ching stories, the Pooh stories by A.A. Halfway through the book, something began to irritate me. Who would think that a children’s book had so much to teach? Maybe Winnie-the-Pooh isn’t just a children’s book. That’s a helpful step towards effective communication of wisdoms. But, by linking these wisdoms to Winnie-the-Pooh, Benjamin Hoff can at least illustrate the messages with passages from Pooh’s adventures. Then you can look at a saying about the “innate truth” about things and say “that is so true!”Ī book cannot really do this. Rules for life need to get embedded into your emotions through experiences, and then you feel them to be true. Wisdom is gained through the tears of disappointment, but first you need the experience of disappointment. The problem lies in people and how we learn things. Well, yes, thank you for the reminder.Īnother thing with little wisdoms is that they are often true. For example, it teaches that everyone is unique and has their own talents and weaknesses, and struggling against that only causes pain. At times, The Tao of Pooh felt a bit like this. You hear them and think: “A yes I know this” and you move on. The problem with little wisdoms is that they are removed from daily life. I might be horribly wrong here because Taoism is also a spiritual system, but the book by Hoff is written for a Western audience who would find the little wisdoms more accessible. And the wisdoms of Taoism could be likened to the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The book gave me the impression that Taoism is a collection of old wisdoms, with a sort of overarching outlook on life in general. In fact, I am going to go on a bit of a rant. I liked it but I also have some criticism that I will deal with at the end. If you’d ask the author, Benjamin Hoff, he would probably say: “same thing.” The book is short – you could read it in an afternoon. This book either explains Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh, or it explains Winnie-the-Pooh through Taoism.
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