The Pooh Way
Enjoy the Day
The Tao of Pooh
What is The Tao of Pooh?
Written by Benjamin Hoff, the Tao of Pooh explores the "ancient Chinese text" the Tao Te Ching, written by Lao-Tse somewhere in the area of 4th-6th century BCE. Typically seen as a perplexing and contradictory text with entries that read: "As soon as beauty is known by the world as beautiful, it becomes ugly", we find ourselves bogged down going back and forth between yes and no, this or that. Hoff gives us a relatable figure in Pooh, that will serve as our guide, comically showing us "The Way".
Why read the Tao of Pooh?
First, maybe most importantly (even according to Pooh) its a very enjoyable thing to do...
The pages turn easily and we get to learn about a subject that would otherwise be more difficult to do. This book is a great way to step aside and let the "Bisy Backsons" of the world go flying by, while we enjoy the sunshine.
I've always felt an obligation to read what our collective history has deemed important, and for this reason I began reading Tao Te Ching, I hadn't even made it through the second section (paragraph) before I began wondering what all the noise was about. While reading it, I felt like I was lost...it didn't make any sense. Then Pooh came along and showed me that rather than looking for something in the forest, we would be better suited to just enjoy the forest for what it is.
How should you read this book?
The best answer to that question is fairly straight forward, enjoy it. Read it slowly, put it down and enjoy the moments that you aren't reading it. When asked what Pooh's favorite thing in the world was his initial reaction was that "he loves to eat honey" and then he began to think about it and realized that eating honey isn't as enjoyable as the moment right before you eat honey... even more so, if he has friends that he is about to share it with.