Ivana Atmojo

Last Sunday, I came across this book that I had sitting on my bookshelf. I bought this book in an Oxfam second-hand bookshop in London 2 years ago, but hadn’t read it until just a couple of days ago. I read it in one sitting as it is surprisingly a very CHARMING book. I’d recommend this book to just about anyone!

Benjamin Hoff (the author) does a remarkable job at articulating the essence of such complex philosophy (Taoism) in this delightful little book, with sprinkles from the story of Pooh and his friends. Whether or not you embrace Taoism, I’m sure there are so much in this book that you can learn from and relate to. Here are some excerpts from one of my favourite chapters:

……Practically Speaking, if timesaving devices really saved time, there would be more time available to us now than ever before in history. But strangely enough, we seem to have less time than even few years ago. It’s really great fun to go somewhere where there are no timesaving devices because, when you do, you find that you have lots of time. Elsewhere, you’re too busy working to pay for machines to save time so you won’t have to work so hard.

The main problem with this great obsession for Saving Time is very simple: you can’t save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly. The Bisy Backson has practically no time at all, because he’s too busy wasting it by trying to save it. And by trying to save every bit of it, he ends up wasting the whole thing……

……Christopher Robin has just asked Pooh a question: “What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?” “Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best–” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.

The honey doesn’t taste so good once it is being eaten; the goal doesn’t mean so much once it is reached; the reward is not so rewarding once it has been given. If we add up all the rewards in our lives, we won’t have very much. But if we add up the spaces between the rewards, we’ll come up with quite a bit. And if we add up the rewards and he spaces, then we’ll have everything–every minute of the time that we spent. What if we could enjoy it?……

……That doesn’t mean that the goals we have don’t count. They do, mostly because they cause us to go through the process, and it’s the process that makes us wise, happy, or whatever. If we do things in the wrong sort of way, it makes us miserable, angry, confused, and things like that. The goal has to be right for us, and it has to be beneficial, in order to ensure a beneficial process. But aside from that, it’s really the process that’s important. Enjoyment of the process is the secret that erases the myths of the Great Reward and Saving Time. Perhaps this can help to explain the everyday significance of the word Tao, the way.

What could we call the moment before we begin to eat the honey? Some would call it anticipation, but we think it’s more than that. We would call it awareness. It’s when we become happy and realize it, if only for an instant. By Enjoying the Process, we can stretch that awareness out so that it’s no longer only a moment, but covers the whole thing. Then we can have a lot of fun. Just like Pooh.

And then he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and so, when he had thought it all out, he said, “What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying “What about a little something?” and Me saying, “Well, I shouldn’t mind a little something, should you, Piglet,” and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing.”

When we take the time to enjoy our surroundings and appreciate being alive, we find that we have no time to be Bisy Backsons anymore. But that’s all right, because being Bisy Backsons is a tremendous waste of time.