Quotes from the book:

Benjamin Hoff and His Conclusion on What We Can Learn from Pooh Corner: “Within each of us there is an owl, a rabbit, an Eeyore, and a Pooh. For too long, we have chosen the way of Owl and Rabbit. Now, like Eeyore, we complain about the results. But that accomplishes nothing. If we are smart, we will choose the way of Pooh. As if from far away, it calls to us with the voice of a child’s mind. It may be hard to hear at times, but it is important just the same, because without it, we will never find our way through the Forest.”

Benjamin Hoff on a Clear Mind: “The power of a clear mind is beyond description. But it can be attained by anyone who can appreciate and utilize the value of nothing.”

Benjamin Hoff on a Mind That Thinks Too Much: “The surest way to become Tense, Awkward, and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard—one that thinks too much.” (Perhaps the greatest point in the whole book. Sometimes you just gotta vibe, man.)

Benjamin Hoff on Believing in the Power Within Each of Us: “We don’t need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified Spiritual Superman, or sit around and wait for Fate to come knocking at the door. We simply need to believe in the power that’s within us, and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others and competing against them, things begin to work for us.”

Benjamin Hoff on Cleverness: “Cleverness… has its limitations. Its mechanical judgments and clever remarks tend to prove inaccurate with passing time, because it doesn’t look very deeply into things to begin with.”

Benjamin Hoff on Enjoying the Process: “Enjoyment of the process is the secret that erases the myths of the great reward and saving time.”

Benjamin Hoff on How Life is Fun: “When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.”

Benjamin Hoff on Inner Nature: “…everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don’t seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your own Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong.”

Benjamin Hoff on Our Usefulness: “No matter how Useful we may be, sometimes it takes us a while to recognize our own value.”

Benjamin Hoff on the Wise: “The Wise are Who They Are. They work with what they’ve got and do what they can do.” (Sounds like Arthur Ashe to me!)

Benjamin Hoff on Things in Original Simplicity: “Things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed.”

Benjamin Hoff on Mistakes: “Mistakes are made—or imagined—by man, the creature with the overloaded Brain who separates himself from the supporting network of natural laws by interfering and trying too hard.”

Benjamin Hoff on the “Bisy Backson Society”: “The Bisy Backson Society, which practically worships youthful energy, appearance, and attitudes, has developed no effective methods of retaining them, a lack testified to by an ever-increasing reliance on the unnatural False Front approach of cosmetics and plastic surgery. Instead, it has developed countless ways of breaking youthfulness down and destroying it. Those damaging activities that are not part of the search for the Great Reward seem to accumulate under the general heading of Saving Time.”

Benjamin Hoff on the Efficiency of Wu Wei: “The efficiency of Wu Wei is like of water flowing over and around the rocks in its path—not the mechanical, straight-line approach that usually ends up short-circuiting natural laws, but one that evolves from an inner sensitivity to the natural rhythm of things.”

Benjamin Hoff on the Folly of Studying Knowledge for Its Own Sake: “The Confusionist, Desiccated Scholar is one who studies Knowledge for the sake of Knowledge, and who keeps what he learns to himself or to his own small group, writing pompous and pretentious papers that no one else can understand, rather than working for the enlightenment of others.”

…

Additional notes on the book:

Comparing Winnie the Pooh to Taoism is just brilliant. People get so drunk on eastern philosophy that they tend to forget there’s another half of the globe.

I love how Huff, in a very Socratic sort of East, invites Pooh into dialogue. I love how Pooh thinks Benjamin is saying the “how” of Pooh, although that is basically the same thing.

Huff discusses the painting The Vinegar Tasters, which is an allegory (Tolkien automatically despises this artwork) of the three schools of Chinese thought, also known as the “three teachings” — those of Confucius, Buddha, and Lao-Tse.

Confucius, aka K’ung Fu-tse, tastes the vinegar as sour. “He believed that the present was out of step with the past, and that the government of man on earth was out of harmony with the Way of Heaven, the government of the universe.”

In some ways his overall viewpoint was not incorrect, but his way of seeing the emperor as the Son of Heaven is pretty silly in retrospect. While I fully appreciate his emphasis on reverence for the Ancestors, as I do, the ancient rituals and ceremonies are just window dressing to reinforce obedience to a patriarchal and dictatorial regime. No thanks. 

But yes, the present is most definitely out of step with the past. The way of heaven, in my view, is the laws of nature we have thus far discovered. And we certainly don’t live in harmony with natural law or physics, that’s for damned sure! So, Confucius was in fact correct in identifying the problem but poorly informed in his proposals of the solution.

Second, we have Buddha, who tastes bitterness. To him, “life on earth was bitter, filled with attachments and desires that led to suffering.” Yes, he was absolutely right. “The world was seen as a setter of traps, a generator of illusions, a revolving wheel of pain.” This is where I start taking issue with the Buddhist view. It is other people that set traps. The world does not generate illusions; we create them for ourselves to make ourselves feel more comfortable. It is by falling into these traps laid by those slightly more clever than ourselves and the illusions we choose to persist living within that are the real cause of suffering. Not the world itself.

Transcending the “world of dust” and reaching nirvana is no different than believing some Jewish rabbi was actually the son of God in disguise who died for our sins and invites us to live as loyal subjects to his capricious dad for all eternity. Nirvana sounds way better of course, but a state of “no wind” seems like it would grow stale awfully fast.

Chinese Buddhism is considered more optimistic than its Indian progenitor, but still, it’s the “bitter wind of everyday existence” that motivates me. It doesn’t get in my way. I seek no way to Nirvana, only fulfillment through the enlightenment and uplifting of fellow wanderers through this terrible and wonderful world we call home. 

This is where we come to Taoism, and this precedent I do agree with: “the harmony that naturally existed between heaven and earth from the very beginning cools be found by tome at any time, but not by following the rules of the Confucianists.” Finally, some sense is made!

“…earth was in essence a reflection of heaven, run by the same laws—not by the laws of men.” And according to him, “the more man interfered with the natural balance produced and governed by the universal laws, the further away the harmony retreated into the distance.” The native Americans got this balance right and the Europeans went and fucked it all to hell. “When abstract and arbitrary rules were imposed from the outside, struggle was inevitable. Only then did life become sour.” And it’s sourer than ever.

Lao-tse and I are even more on the same page here: “the world was not a setter of traps but a teacher of valuable lessons.” While the nature of the Way (or Tao) can’t be properly expressed in words, it can be understood by those “who cared about it the most.”

And Lao-Tsu is smiling in that painting. Not because the vinegar is particularly sweet, but because it isn’t sour or bitter to him. It just is.

In the Tao of Who chapter, Hoff amusedly remarks to Pooh that one of the most important principles in Taoism was named after him: P’u, the Uncarved Block. Of course, it wasn’t but it’s a hilarious coincidence.

Interesting point about clever Rabbit having Brain and a life full of “important things”, in always took it to mean that you can outsmart yourself if you’re not careful and that most things we think are importantly really aren’t.

The Eeyore Attitude doesn’t work either, and it’s particularly common these days. “You might say that while Rabbit’s little routine is that of knowledge for the sake of Being Clever, and while Owls is that of Knowledge for the sake of Appearing Wise, Eeyore’s is Knowledge for the sake of Complaining About Something.” These are all not useful. Which is the point. 

Since when did Eeyore learn a word like instigorate? I think he means instigate, but all the same. He’s talking about an A he made with three sticks and about how Christopher Robin becomes Educated with Knowledge.

…

When Kanga and Roo came to the forest, Rabbit decided he didn’t like them because they were Different. He thought himself clever enough to get rid of them. Of course, he failed, thankfully.

Great thoughts about Cottleston Pie, you know that song Pooh Bear songs.

“A fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly.” It sounds simple and silly but the point is “you’d be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Things Are As They Are.” 

Even I’m guilty of this. Mostly by association. Which is why I’m so careful with my associations, with things. With ideas. With individuals.

In response to a guy who saw a tree as useless because it wasn’t useful as lumber, Chuang-tse replied,

“You complain that your tree is not valuable as lumber. But you could make use of the shade it provides, rest under its sheltering branches, and stroll beneath it, admiring its character and appearance. Since it would not be endangered by an axe, what could threaten its existence? It is useless to you only because you want to make it into something else and do not use it in its proper way.”

When I first moved to Vermont, I wasn’t sure about staying long term. I kept looking for other places to be, disguising the effort as finding a vacation home for some portion of the year. But everywhere I looked had major issues with it. Even when we looked within Vermont, there were always major problems with whatever property we looked at. This was the universe insisting I stay put. It took me several years to listen, but I finally did.

Back to the song, “A fish can’t whistle and neither can I.”

Essentially what this means: “I have certain limitations, and I know what they are.” Yet most people focus on overcoming these, rather than working to their strengths. Even the most talented people have areas of deficiency, which is why we need other people to help us out.

“That doesn’t mean that we need to stop changing and improving. It just means that we need to recognize What’s There.” I’ve written about this concept at length, but this is a much more succinct way of saying it.

Finally, we get to Tigger, who most certainly doesn’t know his own limitations… well he learns about a few of them the hard way.

“…a Weakness of some sort can do you a big favor, if you acknowledge that it’s there.”

This is something I still struggle with: “once you face and understand your limitations, you can work with them, instead of having them work against you and get in your way, which is what they do when you ignore them, whether you realize it or not. And then you will find that, in many cases, your limitations can become your strengths.”

Here is where I start taking issue with certain tenets of Taoism. “The important thing is, we don’t really need to know. We don’t need to imitate Nearsighted Science, which peers at the world through an electron microscope, looking for answers it will never find and coming up with more questions instead. We don’t need to play Abstract Philosopher, asking unnecessary questions and coming up with meaningless answers.”

Um, finding more questions is how you gain wisdom. What questions are unnecessary? What makes a meaningless answer? So many questions begged by these maxims.

This part I do agree with: “what we need to do is recognize Inner Nature and work with Things As They Are. When we don’t, we get into trouble.” Yes, in many cases this is true. But it is not an absolute. There are things that can be changed for the better, but only to enhance one’s nature, not change it entirely.

I sort of stumbled on these ideas through experience over a decade ago. But I didn’t take my own advice until I had time to reconsider the errors of my ways in the pandemic year.

“… instead of struggling to erase what are referred to as negative emotions, we can learn to use them in positive ways… the principles of Music and Living aren’t all that different, we think.”

Taylor Swift teaches this exact lesson through her music. People bitch and moan about her needing to let go of things. But those things are what drive her passion. She transforms pain and suffering into joy. She embraces her mistakes, her cringe, the patron saint of said cringe. I think Tay is a living example of the natural extension of what Taoism was after. At least at a surface level.

…

The next chapter starts with a beautiful passage from The House at Pooh Corner:

By the time it came to the edge of the Forest, the stream had grown up, so that it was almost a river, and, being grown-up, it did not run and jump and sparkle along as it used to do when it was younger, but moved more slowly. For it knew now where it was going, and it said to itself, “There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” But all the little streams higher up in the Forest went this way and that, quickly, eagerly, having so much to find out before it was too late.”

Wu Wei doesn’t mean anything in English? This is why Hoff calls it the Pooh way. 

Literally, Wu Wei means “without doing, causing, or making”

Hoff writes, “But practically speaking, it means without meddlesome, combative, or egotistical effort.”

 Yet the term also has come to mean: “no going against the nature of things, no clever tampering; no Monkeying Around.”

All I do is cleverly tamper and monkey around. It’s worked rather well for me.

“…the principle is minimal effort.” Kind of a cool idea that I’ve toyed with in the past, but I take issue with it in many cases that I will get to in future.

I have forgotten how much more eloquent book Eeyore was versus cartoon Eeyore. Again, the book is better.

Reading this reminds me of the simple vs simplistic argument I was running around in my head when it comes to song lyrics. From these examples, Pooh is simple, but not simplistic. 

“… the mind of Wu Wei ‘flows like water, reflects like a mirror, and responds like an echo.’”

That’s a beautiful way of thinking. “…being Sensitive to Circumstances.”

I’m fascinated by this Taoist martial art of T’ai Chi Ch’uan. I’m familiar with the concept: “wear the opponent out either by sending his energy back at him or by deflecting it away, in order to weaken his power, balance, and position for defense. Never is force opposed with force; instead, it is overcome with yielding.” It’s like fighting fire with water.

This next section could be its own reflection…

Our society is full of the Bisy Backson types. I don’t remember that term from Pooh corner but I get it. Those who stay active for the sake of constant motion. They often confuse exercise with work. Like the gym. But overdoing. Busy and back soon, only to be gone again busy soon enough.

Hoff writes, “Our Bisy Backson religions, sciences, and business ethics have tried their hardest to convince us that there is a Great Reward waiting for us somewhere, and that what we have to do is spend our lives working like lunatics to catch up with it.”

He continues, most eloquently, “Whether it’s up in the sky, behind the next molecule, or in the executive suite, it’s somehow always farther along than we are—just down the road, on the other side of the world, past the moon, beyond the stars…”

While this is a beautiful philosophy on the surface, it’s also a call for complacency that is not entirely healthy either. I agree with the first half, but the second half, well, you can find what you’re looking for a lot closer to home than we are taught. But it isn’t science or businesses that ruin our way of thinking. It’s the religions that poison all else. Actually, Hoff mentions the Puritans by name, so he knows what I’m on about! He calls them the “party crashing busybody religion” … yeah pretty much!

The bulldozer Backson? The bigoted Backson? Now we’ve gotten worn out babysitting them, no kidding. This book is from 1982… oh dear, people really didn’t listen.

It’s vital that we take into account that things written over 40 years ago have not been heeded, and those individuals who would have read this book at the time are now either elderly or dead. If I don’t keep engaging my mind, I will be worse than dead. This is why I no longer concern myself with being busy, but rather seeking to enlighten and enrich my being. Youth is overvalued and most people don’t even really know what youth is anymore.

…

This I especially agree with… “it’s really great fun to go someplace where there are no time saving devices because, when you do, you find that you have lots of time. Elsewhere, you’re too busy working to pay for machines to save you time so you won’t have to work so hard.”

This is absolutely true. The thing with me is, if it’s going to cost me more time earning the money for it than the time it will save me, what good is it? Of course, I’ve bought a microwave oven for 15 bucks at goodwill. Modern conveniences are cheaper than you think. You just have to be smart about it.

Another issue I take is how Hoff states this: “The main problem with this great obsession for Saving Time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it.”

I respectfully disagree. The problem occurs when we spend more time trying to save time than the actual time savings we sought out in the first place.

…

This is good. “…enjoying life and being Special. Everyone is Special, you know.”

Part of the reason, a major factor in fact, with quitting digital marketing was that I refuse to compete with people over trivia, minutia, and false idols of plastic, which is necessary to “succeed” in that realm. I chose housewife instead and am quite happy with my decision!

“A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care. Wisdom does.”

Hoff brings up Thoreau again:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” These days dear Henry, it is no longer at all quiet. Even Hoff agrees, even in 1982, that it became “deafening” but also that “we don’t have to be a part of it.” 

The Great Secret is Nothing.

“Gathering, analyzing, sorting, and storing information—these functions and more the mind can perform so automatically, skillfully, and effortlessly that it makes the most sophisticated computer look like a plastic toy by comparison. But it can do infinitely more.” 

This is why AI will never replace the human brain. It’s just so much more infinitely complex than anything we can manufacture, perhaps ever.

“To use the mind as it’s all too commonly used, on the kinds of things that it’s usually used on, is about as inefficient and inappropriate as using a magic sword to open up a can of beans.”

Interesting analogy.

“Let’s say you get an idea—or, as Pooh would more accurately say, it gets you.”

Yes, I often feel as if Ideas get me, not the other way round. And abstract ideas have their place, long as you can tie them back to something Useful to Say, that is often my greatest struggle. 

The whole book can be summed up by the back cover. “While Eeyore frets, and piglet hesitates, and rabbit calculates, and owl pontificates, Pooh just is.” We all just need to be. That’s where true beauty, wisdom, and happiness is found.

For all its shortcomings, this is a great book. I have my issues with some of Taoist’s maxims, but the overall message is sound.