The Wisdom of Tao from Winnie the Pooh
Based on #2021/22 Book Challenge in The Summit Publication
When I was a child, I loved to watch Winnie The Pooh. Why? Is it because a bear can talk? No, but I loved his innocence. Some may describe him as stupid, but I don't think so. His humbleness and innocence always touch my heart even though he is just a character in a cartoon. I even wished if my cat could talk like him. Maybe, yes but he meows instead. When my childhood ended, the wisdom I received from Pooh bear faded away with it.
Why? Because my mind stuck with the ego created by society and also that within me. To be a winner in society, I rushed and resisted in my life till I realized at a certain point that I made a blunder. What’s the point of rushing and resisting in our life without enjoying the present moment nature gifted us. I was at the fork in the road where there are only two options in my life. Do I need to push myself hard to get accreditation in society or do I need to enjoy every moment in my life and search for a purpose my soul yearns for?
The universe works most beautifully if we are aware of it. It shows you messages everywhere whenever you seek an answer.
When I was in a confused state, my lovely Pooh bear came again in the form of a book. The mentioned book is called The Tao of Pooh written by Benjamin Hoff.
I found the book on a website and I was very sure I could get an answer to my question from this book. Without any hesitation, I bought this book and the wisdom of Tao just flowed like a river from the beginning to the last page of the book. This book contains both wisdom from Taoism and Winnie the Pooh stories that are related to the principle of Tao.
We often pause a moment to admit that we don't know something. It is because we are afraid of criticism, judgement and insults. We thought society will not accept us if we show our weaknesses and we try to place a veil that only shows our strength and power. We often wanted to be superior to others and we are not ready to be stupid.
The stupidity I mention here is to be open to the question we don’t know. When we admit that we don’t know or we have weaknesses in certain aspects, we may get help from kind-hearted people and nature. We should not live a life that is constructed by other people’s minds, but we have to live a soulful life that nature bequeath. So, we have to be open with both our strengths and weaknesses. This is how Benjamin Hoff in his book quoted;
…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. One man’s food is often another man’s poison, and what is glamorous and exciting to some can be a dangerous trap to others. ~pg 41
In this book, there is a song called Cottleston Pie which sang in the Winnie the Pooh. Though it contains humour, it has a great Taoism message behind it.
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can’t bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can’t whistle and neither can I
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.”Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don’t know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
“Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie.” ~pg 39
If we see this lyric clearly, we know that every creature on this planet is unique. Strengths and weaknesses are dualities where we listed them down in our minds like a spreadsheet. After all, they are just a bunch of rules that the ego created in our minds. Yet, in reality, every creature is unique. Yes, a fish can’t whistle like a bird, but a bird can’t swim like a fish either. But, the planet may not exist without both of them. So, can we judge the inability of swimming and flying as unforgivable weaknesses or sins?
We often self-blame and guilt for the so-called “weaknesses” we have in our lives and we try to push ourselves too hard to correct our weaknesses without acknowledging the strengths we acquire. When we try to observe the uniqueness in our life, our minds eventually become still. We soon realize that the emptiness is not empty at all but it has the key to exploring our greatest treasure within us.
Therefore, after I read this book, I realized I have to admit my stupidity and be open and prepare myself as a student for a great master which is nature. Nature I mean here is everything within the time and space and beyond it as well.
The Nature of Life,
The Nature of Difficulties,
The Nature of Creatures,
The Nature of Silence,
The Nature of Joy and Peace
and many more.
Empty your cup so that it may be filled; become devoid to gain totality. ~Bruce Lee
So, what I learnt from this wonderful book is it is okay to be stupid because you will have a high opportunity to gain more wisdom when you are ready. If you only live to try to prove others with your strengths and power, it means you are not open to receiving wisdom from nature.
To add smiles to my fellow readers, here is the Cottleston Pie song from The Muppet Show. I love to listen to this song as it adds humour to my life.
Thank you for reading!
Thank you, Sahil Patel for creating a great platform for us to play this fun challenge. I wish to invite my wonderful friends Sujona Chatterjee, Ali, Dr. Preeti Singh, Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar, Yana Bostongirl, Sorina Raluca Băbău, Suma Narayan, Dan J, Shameem Anwar, J Oliver Dempsey, A.H. Mehr, Arbab Z., Neera Handa Dr, Yana Bostongirl, Joseph Lieungh, Ravyne Hawke, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Colleen Millsteed and many more to share your wisdom.
For those who wish to participate, please leave a response so that we can tag and enjoy each other works. And for those who haven’t joined as a writer in The Summit Publication, feel free to join by leaving a response. We will add you as a writer. More fun and creative challenges will be gifted to all of you in The Summit Publication.
Check out the guidelines of this challenge here:
For those who wish to participate as a writer in The Summit Publication, check out the guidelines below:
