Philosophical Analysis Of Winnie The Tao Of Pooh

Through using the skeleton of a children’s story, The Tao of Pooh is able to project philosophical ideologies in a coherent and unformidable way. The Tao of Pooh does so by symbolically relating its philosophical attitudes and practices of Taoism through the use of Winnie the Pooh characters and stories. While there is much to critique and comment on, the topic to which I believe warrants the most discussion, is that of the self. The entire context of The Tao of Pooh is revolved of around one person, or bear for that matter, and how his doing, or not doing, compares to the actions of the other characters. In the spirit of Taoism, I will try to keep this evaluation fairly simple. When we rely on our Inner Nature and practice self-reliance

P’u refers to the principle of the uncarved block, where there is a certain power that resonates within natural and undisturbed person. Winnie the Pooh is demonstrated as the perfect example of this natural power, because he cheerfully ambles through life seeking only simple things, such as honey. This natural power is marred or lost as the person looses his simplicity, as seen in the some of the other character’s who dwell on knowledge or negativity which distract from the simplicity and beauty of the world. We can also see this applied through the story of the Vinegar tasters. In this analogy to life, the philosophers from Buddhism and Confucianism found the vinegar to taste rather unpleasant, while the Taoist tasted it and smiled. From the Taoist point of view, life is not unpleasant unless you make it that way through over complication and unappreciation. Therefore, the self must apply a certain positive aspect onto life, and accept things in the world for how they

As much as I would love to lounge around all day eating honey, it’s not applicable to the requirements of today’s world. Going with the flow, and allowing nature to run its course, can be applicable in general idea, but not in terms of business and work. There are expectations that come with being in school and working, where it becomes hard to just relax as Pooh does. For example, “Pooh hasn’t much Brain, but he never comes to any harm. He does silly things and they always turn out right” (21). While things always turn out right for Pooh, there isn’t really anything Pooh did for things to turn out that way. He did nothing in fact, and if I were to do nothing, and let nature write this paper or study for my tests, this paper would be blank and I would fail my tests. While again this is a very direct application, this sort of outlook isn’t very suited for people today, especially when such an importance is placed on education and intelligence. The overall anti-intelligence attitude this book projected was rather funny to me, considering that the majority of people probably reading the book are doing so in search of