In the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tse writes that “The wise man is not learned, and the learned man is not wise.” For the Taoist, the scholars, who, in China, were usually more Confucian in their worldview, were like ants running around ruining Life’s picnic.

Taoism talks about the True Man, or the Whole Man. It is interesting that the Western interpretation of the True Man is the scholar, but this is far too cerebral and unbalanced to capture the Taoist ideal. For the Taoist, the True Man exemplifies balance, wholeness, independence. The Absent-minded professor type is capable of making hair-splitting distinctions and abstracting with ease. His mental categories are very organized, but he doesn’t seem to keep his own home in order. His knowledge is bookish, not born of experience.

The Western ideal of the True Man is very cerebral, and as such, the Taoist rejects its lopsidedness. Owl is the Hundred-Acre Wood embodiment of the scholar, the dry pontificator who likes Knowledge for the sake of seeming wise.

The deepest things of Life can’t be teased apart by the scholar’s scalpel. Like Pooh, we often go to Owl’s house for answers, but rarely do we find them there.