I am halfway through the book The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. So far, it has been an interesting read, but nothing really stands out. I am a little disappointing, I must say. I thought that the book would be more engaging and creative, but it is not. Incorporating Winnie-the-Pooh into Taoism is no easy feat, and Hoff does a nice job of it, but it is still not that great of a book. My main concern is that it is repetitive. I think that may partially be because of the nature of Taoism, but it is also because of how every time Hoff quotes directly from Winnie-the-Pooh he has to explain it and all the explanations sound the same. The main information I am learning from the story, though, is fascinating. I love the concept of Taoism and the theories behind the philosophy. One of the most interesting things about Taoism I have learned is the concept of Wei Wu Wei, or do without doing. This is very engaging because the concept is so simple, yet we never think about it in real life. Basically, it is saying that you cannot try to force things to happen, you have to let things develop on their own and they will always work out. One of my favorite quotes from the story so far is:
“Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything.”
This reinforces the idea that we over think things too often. We need to start to accept what is happening, and trust in the fact that things will always work out the way that they were intended to.
For some reason, I really enjoy reading Taoist quotes and sayings. If you are interested, this is a link to a bunch of them, some of which are very cool: http://gj56.hubpages.com/hub/Taoist-Quotes-and-Sayings
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