The Tao of Pooh in the Light of Christ

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What do a quasi-mythical Chinese sage, some 20^th century Eastern Orthodox monks and a simple-minded yellow bear have in common?

Three Paths, One Way

While you think of your best guess, allow me to offer further insight into this eclectic crew.  The Chinese sage I refer to is the enigmatic Lao Tzu*, the famous antithesis of Confucian social engineering and a natural sage for the ages. 

The Eastern Orthodox Monks are Fr. Seraphim Rose (Memory Eternal) and his protégé Heiromonk Damascene, a spiritual father and son pair from California.  

Lastly, what should come as no surprise to anyone, we have the indomitable Winnie the Pooh, beloved hero of countless misadventures. A creation of A. A. Milne, “Pooh-Bear” has now been delighting children and parents around the globe for almost 100 years.

Want to hear the conversation about this topic? Check out the Voyage Podcast episode below:

So what do they have in common?  I hope you haven’t cheated by reading the title of this blog post!  What binds this band together is they all, in various ways, participate in a dialogue regarding something known in Mandarin as “the Tao,” or in English, as “the Way.”

What Way?

The Tao or Way is a hard concept to pin down succinctly, but it basically refers to that in which all things flow harmoniously together…if humans only have eyes to see and ears to hear.  

Much of the world’s anguish, according to Lao Tzu, is in the human predilection for over-complicating things or trying to control them.  According to Lao Tzu, most discontent arises from the feeble but all too human attempt to control the world around us or contort ourselves into forms unnatural to our soul.

At its heart, Taoist teaching realigns our concerns, attentions, and actions into harmony with a natural and pre-bureaucratic order, as opposed to the frivolous and artificial burdens which constitute much of society’s presumptions on our lives.  

In practice, that looks an awful lot like no longer participating in activities or behavior patterns that unnecessarily stress us out.  In other words, slow down, stop worrying about anything other than the immediate needs of the moment, and find peace in living the small, unassuming existence that follows. 

To modern, busy-body Westerners, this can look like achieving nothing at all, or nothing of “importance” at any rate.  But Taoism doesn’t teach that the fulcrum of existence rests on large world changing events or ideological movements.  The proper layer of analysis resides in the human soul, and it’s simple interactions with the world around it.

Benjamin Hoff’s pleasant book The Tao of Pooh juxtaposes Winnie the Pooh’s unthinking, unworried, reactionary ambles through the Hundred Acre Wood against the stress and burdens of his companions, Eeyore, Piglet, Rabbit and Owl.

“While Eeyore frets …And Piglet hesitates …And Rabbit calculates …And Owl pontificates …Pooh just is.” – The Tao of Pooh, Back Jacket

Pooh Bear is the perfect encapsulation of effortless achievement in his life and the life of his friends.  His simplicity of heart always carries the day and in unexpected ways solves the needs of the moment.  Hoff finds in him the perfect distillation of Lao Tzu’s wisdom.

Christ the Eternal Tao

“Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on...

…Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…

…But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” — Matthew 6:25-26, 33-34 (ESV)

If a person wasn’t aware that these were the words of Christ, he might think they came from some Eastern Taoist sage.  Hieromonk Damascene points out the overlap between the Wisdom of Lao Tzu and the Wisdom of the Church in his book, Christ the Eternal Tao.  

Both Hieromonk Damascene and Fr. Seraphim Rose, because of their respective backgrounds in Taoism and Zen Buddhism before converting to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, speak with authoritative insight.

But he takes things one step further.  He not only teaches that there is compatible wisdom between Taoism and Christianity, but also claims that the intuition and wisdom of Taoism is fulfilled and best understood in light of Christianity. 

Christ is the incarnation of the Tao, the Divine “Logos” of the universe (to use the ancient Greek and Christian language correlate for the Tao**).  The revelation Christ brings to mankind, about Himself and creation itself, are the very embodiment of Taoist aspiration.

Christ isn’t just the fulfillment of the Torah, He is the fulfillment of all philosophical or mystical systems attempting to bring man into harmony with the Divine or Transcendent. 

This claim is not watered-down syncretism designed to placate a modern audience.  This is a bold statement, drawing upon the example of St. Paul when he addresses the crowd in the Aeropagus (Acts 17:16–34), or St. Justin Martyr when he writes about the “logos spermatikis,” or “seed of the Logos” (or should we say, “seed of the Tao!”). 

In Hieromonk Damascene’s estimation, Lao Tzu is the pagan sage who comes closest beyond any other in recognizing Christ without the direct revelation graced to Old Testament prophets or New Testament Apostles.  

The Holy Spirit fills the whole cosmos, and since Humanity’s fall there have always been those who have sought a reunion with the Good, the True and the Beautiful.  Or we might say, they sought reunion with the Way, the Truth, and the Life…  And no one comes to the Father except through He who Is!  (John 14:6).  Hieromonk makes a compelling case when he says Lao Tzu was such a one.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone…

…The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God…

..And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” — Phillipians 4:4-7 (ESV)

We Christians have the privilege of living at the end of the Story.  We can see, behind us, all the ways that mankind has attempted to understand what’s wrong with this world or sought out Divine reconciliation.  We can also see the answer to those efforts in the revelation of Christ Jesus.  

It is wonderful to see that even in the darkness of paganism, there have been those who have been touched by the Light of Christ. 

In our times, we have the access, the means, of seeing God’s work in people from every time and place, (even if we find it broken or incomplete). Knowing that God was at work in the hearts of those without Christ’s direct revelation, let us rejoice that the same God is at work in our own hearts in a far more profound and intimate fashion! 

Our lives can be harmonious examples of Christ working through us, or as Lao Tzu put it: 
“The saint inspires the vitality of all lives, without holding back. He nurtures all beings with no wish to take possession of. He devotes all his energy but has no intention to hold on to the merit. When success is achieved, he seeks no recognition. Because he does not claim for the credit, hence shall not lose it.”***

Amen!

*Also commonly named Laozi in modern discourse, which presumably is a more accurate English translation.  But old habits die hard, and I’ll be using the “Tzu” that comes natural to me.  I hope the Chinese sage approves!

**Chinese translations of the Gospel of John use the word “Tao” to translate the Greek word “Logos.”  Thus it reads: “In the beginning was the Tao, and the Tao was with God, and the Tao was God…”*** From the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 2