December Blog #2: The Tao of Pooh, by Benjamin Holt, published 1982

Last year, in my 10th grade AP World History class, we read an excerpt from this delightful little book, and it blew my mind.

I've always been a big fan of simpler things, a less is more type of approach. When I play guitar, I have a minimalist approach that focuses on lots of cool little tricks, rather than playing particularly fast. When I write essays, I eschew words like eschew in favor of words that people tend to use in everyday conversation. When I write poetry and stories, I don't use incredible complex rhyme schemes or humongous plot twists, because sometimes the deepest, most complex, and most downright gorgeous things come from simple words.

What does that have to with anything? Well, the Taoist principles promote simplicity and acceptance above all else. And that is exactly why Pooh works as a symbol of Taoism at it's core. Who else could possibly create a conversation as accepting and simple as the following?

"Or how about Li Pooh, the famous Taoist poet?" Pooh asked cautiosly.
"You mean Li Po." [William Holt] said.
"Oh."

'Oh.' Simple as that. If you haven't noticed, I once strongly considered conversion to Taoism.