Image via WikipediaHow does a Daoist aim to live? As we age, society changes us; it attempts to educate us in its image. As good Daoists we must resist this. We must retain that part of us that is still child-like, that part of us that is deep inside and still filled with the wonder of life. The Daoists call this the “uncarved block” or pu (this is the pun that Benjamin Hoff is using in his Tao of Pooh). The reference is to a living tree, which is then cut down and carved into a table or a chair. We would certainly say that a chair is more useful to us than a tree, but which is happier? We are like that tree, we have been carved into a chair by society, which is happier, we as we have been formed by society, or as we were before we were "carved?"
Pu is like a child. Do children (2-3 year olds) want a 40” plasma television, or an expensive sports car?
No, children want cookies. Daoists don’t want televisions or cars, they want cookies.
Our modern capitalist society has told us that cars, and cell phones, and high pressure jobs will make us happy, but Daoists know that this is a lie. Only the simple pleasures are worthwhile—and cookies may add a few pounds, but will probably not imprison us in dead end, high stress, heart attack producing jobs or saddle us with enormous debts that we can never hope to pay off.
So there you are Jedi Trainees...for get the IPAD, get some cookies.
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