Some Taoist principles to live by.
I was first introduced to Taoism (Daoism – they are the same, just different ways of spelling the same word) through a pandemic philosophy project. It’s an Eastern philosophy that seems to have originated in China alongside and almost in reaction to Confucianism. Perhaps, at this point, you’re seeing there are lots of unfamiliar words in this blog and you’re considering looking for something easier – wait! There’s good news! It’s not as complicated as it seems and has been explained simply and clearly through the illustrations and stories in Winnie the Pooh. Thank you Benjamin Hoff for that.
In ‘The Tao of Pooh’ and ‘The Te of Piglet’, Hoff tackles some of the primary concerns and principles of Taoism by marrying them up with the actions of our favourite bear, Pooh, and his good friend, Piglet. And personally, I agree with him in that maybe more of our lives should follow the same thought patterns and decisions that Pooh and Piglet make. If that so happens to end up being a Taoist way of living, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
In reading his book and reflecting on what I learnt back in those pandemic years, three main areas that came to light which I think sum up Pooh’s approach to life and are also often overlooked. These are ease, following, and smallness. Where the world tells us that achieving your best life should look the complete opposite, I think there’s a relief and contentment that comes from embracing them.
Ease
We live in a society, particularly in the West, where side hustles are regularly encouraged, your hobbies should be monetised, friends should be used as part of your network, and striving is the only way to get what you want. But what if it isn’t? So many of us are pouring all we have into everything we do and it leaves us burnt out, not thriving. What if we take the easy option on occasion, not overloading ourselves with more to do, but looking for simple routes where we don’t have to force ourselves into spaces.
Winnie the Pooh isn’t known as a bear who strives. In one of his few moments of exerting himself as part of a little exercise, he accidentally tears a seam. He’s comfortable; he leads his life by doing enjoyable things and spends his days fairly repetitively with Piglet, Christopher Robin, and the others in the Hundred Acre wood. When he finds himself in trouble, he doesn’t overthink the situation too much – the assumption is always that someone will come to help, or perhaps if he surprises a Heffalump by saying something unexpected, the situation will turn itself around.
Ease also applies not just to physical effort, but mental effort too. We can over-analyse, spiralling around the same thoughts trying to find a new way out. But it just wears you down. It’s been widely researched that there are significant benefits to meditation, prayer, yoga, and other activities that aim to quiet the mind a little and let thoughts go for a moment. Practising these and allowing your mind to be blank or focused only on the present moment helps to cultivate a sense of ease with your thoughts too.
Follow
You can attend a million and one leadership courses, but rarely do you see a follower course or books about how to follow really well. This isn’t suggesting we should all blindly follow whatever leader is put in front of us (I’m aware there’s not the best selection at the moment). More that we don’t all have to be carving our own paths and fighting to be heard – instead we can follow the examples of nature and others. Often, this leads people together rather than taking individual paths that lead us to isolation, as following bands fellow followers together with a sense of community. This is particularly important when our leadership does need challenging or there are causes to fight for – many followers create a crowd and a crowd is hard to be ignored. All too often, we end up with multiple groups all aiming and striving for the same target, yet divided by differences in leadership opinions or lack of knowledge about each other. If we weren’t so worried about leading, maybe we could be an even bigger force to be reckoned with.
Again, Pooh and Piglet are big followers. You don’t see them leading their own expeditions, or having particularly strong ideas about what to do with their day. They’re happy to see where it leads – whether that is in joining some adventure Rabbit or Tigger has planned, or enjoying a quiet day doing nothing. They’re then not upset when plans don’t work out as anticipated (as Rabbit often is) or off in a rush to do something else. They can enjoy where they are and have the freedom to follow and join others.
On a more traditional Taoist interpretation, following also means paying attention to nature. Rather than working against it to enforce your ideas and projects, working with nature and following its direction can make things work smoother and highlight ideas you’ve never considered before. Following can be just as creative and inspiring as we imagine leading to be if you’re looking in the right places and seeing what nature is already showing you.
Small
In the sage words of Sharpay Evans “Bigger is better, a little bit is never enough.” At least, that’s what the marketing and advertising surrounding our society tries to tell us. But what if that’s not true? What if we dialled down the wishlists we have for our lives to be smaller, more succinct and actually focused on the few things we need? Success doesn’t have to be becoming a multi-millionaire. Rarely, do individual people actually need that amount of money anyway. If everyone was satisfied with slightly less (particularly those who are hoarding the majority of wealth and resources) we could share the rest more equally, narrowing poverty gaps and building more cohesive communities that work together.
Of all those in the hundred-acre wood, Piglet and Roo are by far the smallest. Yet they play a valuable part in their society. They each have their unique skills, often less celebrated than those of the noisy and larger-than-life. But they are no less needed. Roo is a friend to Tigger and shows incredible depths of love and compassion for him and the others. Piglet has a very small reserve of bravery, but when it’s called upon to save his friends, we find it is just enough. How they appear on the outside is no reflection of their character and strength on the inside.
We often define people too easily by what we can see on the outside and our own judgements. But who knows what is hidden within. Even the smallest amounts of kindness, courage, and creativity can be enough to transform circumstances and care for the people around us. From these small beginnings, bigger things can grow or latch on. It’s time to stop underestimating the power of the small.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like my other philosophical thoughts on things like existential joy and reckless love.
Rebekah's Ramblings 
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