Pooh is my role model. I reread Milne's books every year or two, and always get something new out of them. So I had really hoped to enjoy Tao of Pooh... but I didn't. I still love the idea of this book, just not this particular implementation.

I found it ironic that Hoff rails against being Clever, because that's how his writing comes across to me. Smug, self-assured, Possessing of Truth. Even more than a little preachy.

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. What we need to do is recognize Inner Nature and work with Things As They Are.

How did you get to that great Truth, Mr. Hoff? Did inspiration come upon you out of the blue, or did you spend time reflecting and wondering and asking questions and learning? And now that you have that Truth, shall we just take your word for it that it is The One Truth and that it should also apply to us, without our own journey of learning?

Hoff likens Pooh to the Uncarved Block. A worthwhile metaphor, but ultimately self-defeating: simple and pure as Pooh may be, he bears (har!) the imprint of Milne and of our own reading self. Hoff interprets him one way, I another, and you yet another. Is there a right way? A wrong way? I like to think that my interpretation is right for me, at this moment in time, and is subject to reinterpretation in a future reading.

Again, I love the idea behind this book. I love finding Tao in Winnie-the-Pooh. But I think I will have to find my own.