Lao-tse’s rule of thumb is that people who pursue knowledge focus on addition-they add new things to their lives and new information to their minds. For instance, while academic scholars might focus on explaining why Taoist masters say that people should live simply, true Taoists just focus on living simply. Knowledge is the theory of living well, while wisdom is the practice. Whereas knowledge means understanding certain truths about the world in the abstract, true wisdom means incorporating those truths into one’s way of living in the world. Hoff argues that wisdom is more important than knowledge because it does lead people towards happiness and enlightenment. This represents the way scholars’ pursuit of knowledge for its own sake actually leads them away from the world’s fundamental truths. And because he uses his knowledge for the wrong purpose, Owl is often hilariously wrong-for instance, he pompously asserts that “Tuesday” is spelled “ Twosday” because “it’s the second day of the week,” which means that the next day is obviously called “ Thirdsday.” He assumes the question is abstract and complicated when it’s straightforward, so he overthinks it, wastes his time, and misses the truth. For instance, he confuses Pooh and Piglet by using complex words like “customary procedure” instead of simpler ones, like “the Thing to Do.” Just like Confucian scholars and contemporary Western academics, Owl is more interested in showing off his knowledge that using it to live a better life or improve the world. In the Winnie-the-Pooh books, Pooh’s friend Owl embodies the absurdity and pointlessness of this kind of academic knowledge. He suggests that scholars and academics who focus on these questions care so much about knowledge that they never develop wisdom. Similarly, Hoff argues that many major philosophical questions are unimportant, because asking them just distracts people from the truth. Instead of trying to understand every detail, Hoff argues, people should learn to live and let live. Hoff illustrates this with a line from Pooh’s song “Cottleston Pie” that goes: “why does a chicken, I don’t know why.” Hoff thinks that it doesn’t matter why a chicken does what it does-rather, what matters is simply recognizing that a chicken naturally does what it does. This prevents them from connecting with that world or achieving real happiness.
When they focus too much on knowledge, Hoff argues, people distract themselves from the real world that’s right in front of them. Hoff argues that “Knowledge for the sake of Knowledge” is counterproductive because it fills people’s minds with abstract ideas and concepts, when living in harmony with the world requires people to have an empty mind and interact with the world based on instinct. Hoff encourages his readers to pursue wisdom rather than knowledge because wisdom helps people achieve the state of happiness and serenity that Taoists call enlightenment, while mere knowledge distances them from it.Īccording to Taoists like Hoff, knowledge and cleverness don’t help people achieve true happiness, but actually bring them farther away from it. In other words, people use knowledge to turn things against their true purpose, while wisdom involves using things for their proper purpose. Whereas people gain abstract knowledge in order to impose their will on the world, Hoff argues, they gain wisdom in order to live in harmony with that world. Hoff thinks that too many people pursue knowledge instead of wisdom-they try to name and define truths about the world instead of simply living them out. Instead, to truly live well, people must feel the truth and embody it through their actions. It’s not enough to simply learn lots of information or know about the truth in the abstract, he argues.
In The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff argues that Taoism requires understanding the world in an entirely new way-one that many of his readers probably haven’t tried before.
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