My reaction to The Tao of Pooh is overall positive-ish. While there were some things that I could not appreciate, which I will describe shortly, I did enjoy learning about Taoism. My previous levels of understanding about Taoism were virtually nonexistent. This being said, I liked the book merely for the fact of learning something new. The other positive reaction I had was toward some of the illustrations (taken from the ancient authors) that Benjamin Hoff used, such as the illustration about Wu Wei on pages 68-69. I felt these examples more insightful, or helpful, for my individual understanding. I know the book was about Pooh Bear and his chums and all… but… I was annoyed for probably seventy-five percent of the time with the interactions between the characters and the author. It felt redundant and distracting. More often than not I was confused as to what was actually being talked about during those paragraphs. Maybe it was fine for others that have read The Tao of Pooh, but I personally could have done without it.
The chapter on “Bisy Backsons” was interesting. I had, again, both positive and negative reactions. Generally speaking, I felt that Hoff was correct in his perception that America as a society is so very fast paced, obsessed with saving time and youth, and that often times an individual seeks only to change others instead of working on the self. I did not like that he portrayed the early settlers in the light that he did. I certainly do not find the Puritans blameless, but Hoff sounded … bitter? He was excessive in his judgments (party crashers, unappreciative of the beauty of nature, etc. Page 102), and also in his praises towards the “wiser inhabitants” (Indians, page 101) and towards Nature (“Friendly Land”). Other than his hyperbolic commentary on American society’s problems, I could appreciate his “solutions.” I feel that we as individuals do not have enough “inner quiet” and should develop it further. I like the idea of changing our mentality to enjoying the process of living as opposed to just trying to get to the reward. It’s hard not to get sucked into the light speed lifestyle, but I have found it to be unhealthy in my own life. I’ll give Hoff a few points for that at least.
I really liked the illustrations, and how he described the stories of ancient authors too! I think that everyone in the world knows that Americans are crazy and fast paced and like to get things done. I agree that we need to work on our "inner quiet," and we should be able to stop what we are doing and take sometime for ourselves. But I think that is wishful thinking.
ReplyDeleteThank you Isaiah for commenting on mine. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a question for you in return. Why do you feel it to be wishful thinking to take a little bit of time for ourselves to develop "inner quiet"?
I agree with you about the sort of bitter tone he takes when talking about some groups. I think that wound up (for me) taking away from what he was trying to say because I feel like Taoism is a very personal choice about an individual's lifestyle, and here he is seemingly looking down his nose at non-Taoists. That's kind of what I thought, anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe Tao of Pooh is in essence the Tao Te Ching but with a little more work and background knowledge involved. To first bring up your point about the bisy backsons I feel that the author did bring up a good point and as did you in your blog! We are so fast paced that classes that we are in right now like RELS 311 is pretty much the closest we will ever get to understanding Eastern Traditions. I am going to go out on a limb here but over 90% of Americans have no interest in Eastern Philosophy nor have the time to invest in it, for an average American to meditate numerous times a week is farfetched, they would rather be making more money or just vegging out because they work so hard. But that is not based on that person, it is our society and our apathy for putting a lot of time into something.
ReplyDeletePS You may certainly use the definition that I made but if you want to clean it up because of all the pronouns (lol) I am cool with that as well!
I am glad that someone else shared in my "disapproval" of the book. I kept reading other people's comments about how much they loved the book and how they would read it again....NO! I laughed when I read your blog and you said that you were "annoyed" with the interactions between the characters and the author. Thank you!! I felt the same way reading it.
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