The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

This book was as really easy read for a more "philosophical" or I suppose religious? text. I mean I don't think Taoists would consider their religion a religion (much like a lot of Buddhists will say that they don't practice a religion as much as a philosophy).. In the end, I still think that if you're going to follow some kind of teaching, it's a religion, no? Obviously there was ways to get into this discussion but for the purpose of this blog, I won't.

I liked this book. I'm not Taoist but I agree with some of the philosophies (not all, just some). I mean my grandpa apparently had a saying: "Lazy eyes, busy hands" meaning that when there's a lot of work to do, instead of constantly checking to see how much you have left, just keep busy and before you know it, you will have finished your work. I like that saying. I think that's basically the Taoist principle 'cept it took an entire book to say it. And obviously the idea of going with the flow, pursuing happiness, etc. Hoff was really good about illustrating his points and I really liked the extended Pooh analogy. It worked really really well.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was that it was pretty disparaging about certain things that I relish - like learning/knowledge/cleverness. I think that perhaps in this society, there is undue importance placed on knowledge and cleverness, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad, right? I mean maybe it's because I'm aiming to be one of the "scholarly" or "learned" that Hoff so disparages but what's wrong with it if that's one's path to "happiness"? Or perhaps there's nothing wrong with it if that's what makes one happy... In the end, Taoists strive for simplicity and I really agreed with that - sometimes things are over-complicated in life and for no reason at all.

I don't know if I'd recommend this book to other people because I didn't fully agree with everything he said but he was able to illustrate his point in such a simple and concise manner and it was relatively entertainingly written that if someone were to ask about the book, I'd probably respond favorably. I mean you could tell he had bitterness towards those who disagreed with him because they were disparaging toward his philosophies and in that aspect, I think that perhaps he failed as a Taoist but again, that would be another discussion for another blog perhaps on another day. :D