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Nowhere and Nothing
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Tao of Pooh, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Taoism, Nature, and Happiness
Knowledge vs. Wisdom
Self-Acceptance and Personal Growth
Western Culture and Eastern Wisdom
Summary
Analysis
Hoff asks why young people follow Pooh, “a Bear of Little Brain,” on his adventures through the forest. He asks whether people should really follow their brains, or else “the voice within” them. Brains, Hoff argues, can’t do what’s most important in life. Cleverness separates people from the real world. In fact, humans’ pursuit of knowledge and cleverness is destroying the world, and we should start prioritizing “wisdom and contentment” instead. Taoist masters follow Tao by listening to their inner voice. Everyone can follow Tao, too, if they learn to hear that voice. Everyone has “an Owl, a Rabbit, an Eeyore, and a Pooh” within them. But most people live like Owl and Rabbit—and complain like Eeyore—when they should really “choose the way of Pooh.”
In this chapter, Hoff combines the principles that he has explained throughout the book into a clear, impassioned thesis statement about why Westerners should embrace Taoism. By choosing cleverness over instinct and knowledge over wisdom, he concludes, Westerners destroy the Earth, deny their own inner nature, and make themselves miserable. But they can become happier, both as individuals and as societies, if they “choose the way of Pooh”—or Taoism—over the ways of Owl, Rabbit, and Eeyore. Owl’s search for knowledge distracts him from the search for wisdom. Rabbit’s energetic search for happiness distracts him from the things that would actually make him happy. And Eeyore’s constant search for problems with the world prevents him from truly appreciating or enjoying it. In contrast, Pooh is wise without being knowledgeable. He stays happy without trying to win a “Great Reward.” And he appreciates the world just the way it is.
Themes
