Could the world’s greatest Taoist be a fuzzy, plump, lovable bear? Perhaps.

In Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff uses characters from Winnie-the-Pooh to explain the principles of Taoism.

“While Eeyore frets …
… and Piglet hesitates
… and Rabbit calculates
… and Owl pontificates
…Pooh just is.
And that’s a clue to the secret wisdom of the Taoists.”

For those who aren’t sure what Taoism is, the story behind The Vinegar Tasters explains it well. This painting shows Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi (representing Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) around a vat of vinegar, reacting to its taste.

Confucius finds the vinegar sour (people are degenerates and need rules to correct them), Buddha finds it bitter (life is full of pain and suffering), but Laozi is smiling (life is fundamentally good in its natural state, and nothing needs to be judged).

While this book is certainly a good read and a useful introduction to Taoism, I found myself constantly wondering how Taoism is supposed to apply to real life.

If you’re a bear without a care in the world, fine. But if you’re a human being, this kind of “hakuna matata” attitude strikes me as an incomplete life philosophy at best.

The book gives Thomas Edison as an example of someone who found success by modeling Pooh, which is where it really fell apart for me. Edison was a Rabbit/Owl, and absolutely not a Pooh.

So, this is meant to be a recommendation for the book, though it may not sound like it. If any Taoists out there want to show me the way, I’d like to hear from them.

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