book review: the te of piglet

this morning, i finished my first book of my mini-summer vacation: The Te of Piglet by benjamin hoff.

i read hoff's first book, The Tao of Pooh, in high school and immediately loved it. i knew next to nothing about taoism (or let's be real, any Eastern religion/philosophy), and i honestly can't remember why i wanted to read the book, but i did. it was magical.

i've lived in alabama my entire life, neck-deep in the Bible belt. my mother's family is free will baptist, and my father's family is baptist.

if you want to know a secret about baptists (or my experience with the denomination), here it is: they are so, so close-minded, particularly free will baptists. 

i don't mean this to reflect badly on my church family; they are so kind to me. but let's be real: when i went to church sunday, the pastor referred to obama as the antichrist. excuse me?!

so, naturally, i've always felt isolated from religion. and i could talk all day about my beliefs when it comes to religion and spirituality, but that's for another time. right now, i want to tell you about the companion to the book that introduced me to Taoism and The Way.

The Te of Piglet is perfect for those of us who feel or have felt Small. hoff uses piglet to explain te, or "virtue in action."

as hoff says: "it is not... a one-size-fits-all sort of goodness or admired behavior that can be recognized as essentially the same no matter who possesses it. it is instead a quality of special character, spiritual strength or hidden potential unique to the individual -- something that comes from the Inner Nature of things."

hoff goes on to explain how the Big Brashness that is praised in society today is really quite foolish. instead, being Small -- being sensitive, compassionate, modest, kind -- these things are what are truly Best, even though our hyper-masculine society would have us think otherwise.

i do admit that the author does tend to go off on some political tangents -- tangents i agree with, for the most part, but still. i came to this book expecting it to be mainly philosophy for one's own life, but i suppose you can't really have philosophy without talking government. considering the dualism of the country's government (and everything else), i think this would be a good book for everyone to read, even if it does come across in some places as Decisively Liberal (which i don't mind, but still feel that you should know).

another particularly important fact to keep in mind is that you do not have to be Taoist to read this book and enjoy it! just like with The Tao of Pooh, this book is not seeking to reform you, but to inform you. Taoism is not really religion or philosophy, but a mingling of both. (remember that dualism the U.S. is obsessed with? let it go.) 

i found myself accepting that my "smallness" is really quite powerful, if i know how to use it without letting society's "bigness" batter me.

this book is an easy read, with just over 250 pages. i would recommend reading The Tao of Pooh first, in case you don't have much knowledge of Taoism, or just to get better acquainted to hoff's writing. 

in fact, i think i'll be rereading that soon...

overall: 4 out of 5 stars. 

<3 rachel

P.S. i'm going to share some favorite quotes from the book, just because:

"unattractiveness, illness, and weakness have many valuable lessons to teach to those willing to learn from them."

aka, everything happens for a reason -- it's up to you to make that reason worth it. i think this fits in quite well to a lot of things that have happened in my life, the balcony-incident a glaringly obvious one. i could have used my injuries as a wall, something Bad and Negative to overcome. instead, i chose to see them as things to learn from and to grow from. the balcony fall is honestly one of the biggest blessings in my life, because it gave me the gift of the Spirit and the gift of knowing my worth and power. i think this quote can also be powerful for those battling mental illness or chronic physical illness. i've been diagnosed with depression, generalized anxiety disorder and EDNOS (recovered(!)) -- we can choose to take our illnesses as punishments, or we can take them as things to grow from.

"...stated in the first line of the Tao Te Ching: 'The Way that can be followed is not a changeless way.' ...Taoism is a Way of Transformation -- a way through which something is changed into something else."

"Taoism is, on one level or another, a form of magic -- a very practical form, perhaps, but magic all the same. ...two secrets of that magic -- two principles of Taoist transformation: Turn the Negative into Positive and Attract Positive with Positive."

"put things in order before chaos occurs." (this is actually from lao-tse, but it was quoted in the book.)

"no society that wants to last is going to be guided by Eeyores."

"in one way or another, we're all Very Small Animals, and that's all we need to be. so why worry about it? all we have to do is live in harmony with the Way, for the benefit of the world, and let its power worth through us. let it do the work."

"when you see beyond 'good' and 'bad,' you are much better able to recognize and make the most of What's There."

as a... friend has told me before, see things for what they are.

i'll stop now, because i want you to read the book! the entire thing is quotable, really.

love and blessin's,

rachel <33