A Bear of Very Little Brain: A Unitarian Universalist Commentary on the Pooh Saga by Kenneth W. Phifer, AB, ABD, MTh, DMn When I was a student in college, there was a very important list of books which circulated through the school. This list, last revised during the Presidency of Ulysses Grant, consisted of certain classics of literature which one simply must have read in order to be considered an educated person. It included such outstanding works of the literary imagination as The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeniad, Don Quixote, War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, and even the Bible. Dutifully I read these books and immediately thought of myself as an educated person. Little did I realize that an enormous gap still existed in my education, a gap which could be filled only by a thorough acquaintance with the stories, sayings, and songs of Edward Bear, popularly know as Winnie-the-Pooh. The reason for this gaping hole in my learning was due in part of the inadequacy of the Harvard educational system, but even more to an unfortunate incident in my childhood. It seems that my 6th grade class was assigned to do a mural outside the principal’s office. My teacher, having already misunderstood my artistic genius by thinking a beautiful lion I had drawn was really the sun shining over a large square box, denied me entrance to the world of art by refusing to allow me to join in preparing this mural - a mural of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends. Understandably, a prejudice arose in me against not only my teacher but against all things having to do with Pooh. I am happy to report that this juvenile stubbornness was overwhelmed by my offsprings’ desire to fathom the depths of this noble character through a public (i.e. family) reading of the two volume Pooh Gospel. Ah, out of the minds of babes! Being a scholar of sorts, I began to peruse various critical studies of the Pooh corpus. Three of these must be mentioned here. One of them—actually it is two volumes but they are by the same author and participate in the same falsehood—will be quickly dealt with because it is of little importance. Benjamin Hoff—an obvious pseudonym attempting to borrow some of the glory of our lifetime UU Arlene Huff and our splendiforous Treasurer Raymond Hough—has published The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet. Both are efforts by a sympathizer with the Chinese Communists to lay claim to Pooh and his friends for the present manifestation of the Middle Kingdom. (The death of Deng may see a change in this crude effort but it is too early to tell if the present leaders of China will withdraw the ridiculous assertions of their “Benjamin Hoff”.) In any case these books—the first published in 1982, the second ten years later—are unworthy. The author pretends to be a Taoist seeking to explain his philosophy through Pooh and Piglet and to explain Pooh and Piglet through Taoism. As everyone knows, Taoists don’t explain. They just “go the Way” and “do the Way” and don’t bother with such rational business as explanation. Consider the cover of the first book, bordered in shocking red!, with the kite our beloved Bear is flying almost entirely in the same color! Most telling of all—and I am deeply embarrassed for Pooh to say this publicly—is the red-trimmed Mao jacket (!) that Hoff and his collaborators have put on the long-suffering Bear. That was in 1982 when Chinese Communists were more assertive and confident. The second book is less bold but nonetheless full of clues to the author’s real intent. Bordered in a gentle yellow—“we Chinese Communists are a gentle and loving people”—with Piglet in a red kimono fronted by yellow armor, a red subdued and peaceful, the cover features a long pole with a banner upon which is imprinted various Chinese symbols of such a shocking character that I shall not dare to translate them for you. As few people in the English speaking world can understand Chinese there is clearly no real danger of the purpose of those characters being unveiled for all to see. A small Penguin embedded in not red but orange (a hint of red) completes the cover which is mostly white, blank, a challenge to fall into the billowy softness of the seductive picture, words, doctrine. Enough! This is an outrageous attempt at communist infiltration and conversion, even after the collapse of most communisms around the world. The Bear shall not be taken from us. This seems an appropriate point at which to mention the equally shocking efforts by capitalists to cash in on our beloved Pooh. There are cups, mugs, key-chains, statuary, book-marks, teddies, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and a host of other “stuff” bearing the imprint of the Bear, as though Winnie-the-Pooh would ever sell his soul to endorse products of any kind! There have also appeared over the last few years several self-help books that purport to contain the wisdom of Pooh Bear but that really are only slick efforts by bad writers to sell their books by using the honored name of one of the world’s greatest figures of thought, wisdom, and word. One deserves mention because it comes closest to the theme of my own research and conclusions. It is titled Pooh and the Philosophers: In Which It Is Shown That All of Western Philosophy Is Merely a Preamble to Winnie-the-Pooh. Neither communism from the left nor capitalism from the right has the right to Pooh. Who does have the right shall be abundantly made clear before the end of this presentation. Patience! Passing on to a volume of real and enduring significance I mention the famous The Pooh Song-Book, a pearl of research which brought to the full light of day the long-lost melodies Pooh was known to use for his rhythmic Hums. Some in time of trouble whistle a happy tune, but Pooh, as you know, was given to relying on a Hum. The Pooh Song- Book conclusively established that Pooh was a Humming Bear, thus correcting the wide- spread but quite erroneous notion that he was a Polar Bear. This mistake grew out to the famous “Expotition” to the “North Pole, Discovered by Pooh, Pooh Found It,” as the sign there reads. Also deserving of mention is the brilliant assemblage of critical essays edited by Frederick Crews of the University of California at Berkeley, titled, The Pooh Perplex. This slender volume, thick with academic pudding of the richest kind, contains the most comprehensive collection of views on the lore and lure of Pooh. So excellent is this work that I simply must give a sampling of its splendor from which you will be able to gain some idea of the widely varied views of Pooh held by some of the world’s leading scholars. They are all wrong, of course, and it shall be made clear, but at least some of them are interesting. Crews, in the Preface to his book, rightly notes that Winnie-the-Pooh is “one of the greatest books ever written, but also one of the most controversial. Nobody can quite agree as to what it really means.” The purpose of his volume, he goes on to remark, is not to clarify the situation but to add to the confusion by bringing together in one place the outstanding critical appraisals of Pooh, some twelve in all. These range from Simon Lacerous’ biting essay, “Another Book to Cross Off Your List,” to Woodbine Meadowlark’s worshipful contribution, “A la recherche du Pooh perdu.” There is a marvelous chapter on the literary sources of Pooh, prepared by Benjamin Thumb, and Harvey Window’s discussion of the hierarchy of heroism in the Pooh books is nothing short of brilliant. The socialist writer, Martin Tempraliss, presents a fascinating, thought obviously false idea of the Pooh stores as Proletarian Fables. CJL Culpepper’s view from the position of a dogmatic Christian is equally interesting, if nonetheless only a slim piece of the real truth. His claim that Pooh’s fall from the tree which he had climbed in pursuit of honey is a mirror of the fall of Adam and Eve is ingenious, however wrong it may be. Herr Professor Dr. Karl Anschaung has certainly produced the most well- researched essay. His conclusion is that the author, A.A. Milne, suffers from a relatively simple case of “advanced animal-phobia and obsessional defense.” He makes a most generous offer to Milne in these words: Whatever therapeutic value you have achieved from your dirty linen before the general public airing, think how much more you will get from it presenting in a bundle to me. But it is to Duns C. Penwiper that highest honors must go for his “A Complete Analysis of Winnie-the-Pooh,” the conclusion of which is that Since Winnie-the Pooh was written at the third of the three stages through which the history of art passes—I refer to the instinctual, the ethical or practical, and the artistic—we should expect its plot to be complex, and so it is. We can, following Aristotle, identify a complex plot by recognizing its differentiable parts, to wit, peripety and discovery; and we find ample portions of both in Winnie-the-Pooh. We distinguish peripety from discovery according to the efficient cause of the change of fortunes involved, and here again we discover that Winnie-the-Pooh, abounding as it does in efficient causes of both varieties, confirms our impression that it is a work of the highest art. A judgment with which no sane man or woman would dare to disagree! And yet, sad to say, magnificent as these thinkers’ ruminations are, none has really done the job fully. None has really explained why Pooh does the things he does do. None has captured the essence of who the Pooh really is, what it is, for example, that distinguishes him from William Gilbert’s powerful and puzzling Pooh-bah, a Pooh of quite a different color (or should I say, stripe?). The reason for this failure is quite simple. No one has yet attempted to study the Pooh in full perspective, to probe beneath his apparently mindless actions and sayings to the depths that drift below. No one, in other words, has dared to see Pooh in the full panoply of his wonder as a struggling creature seeking to make sense out of life. No one has dared, that is to say, to see Pooh as the quintessential religious figure. That is the glory of my attempt, the originality, the breaking of the chains of past thought on this fascinating figure to see him as he really is, a modern bear filled with all the traumas, dreams, hurts, and courage that characterize one who is devoted fully to the religious center of life. I stress that that is the glory of my attempt. Whether it is also the glory of my achievement I must leave to others to judge. I will begin my analysis by reminding you of the four characteristics of a religious person: worship, acceptance, love, and quest. Does the Pooh have these attitudes? That he does is so obvious that anyone acquainted with the Canon will instantly see the truth of the assertion. But for those who retain a smidgin of skepticism, let me proceed to demonstrate by clear and irrefutable examples drawn from the life of this wonderful Bear. Worship is contemplation with joy, with reverence, with a sense of mystery. Is Pooh worshipful? Is he indeed! Consider his attitude upon discovering that Kanga and Roo have appeared in the forest, with no apparent cause for their suddenly being there. His marvelously awed (now be careful all you Freudians, the word is awed, not flawed) statement on being told they came in the usual way—“Oh” —reflects a deep depth of wonder at the very processes of life. Consider further his profound insight into the nature of Humming: Poetry and Hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you. No literatueur, no auteur, no mystic every phrased it better. The result of this worshipful attitude to the universe is well revealed in his Hums, only one of which I will quote at his point. How sweet to be a cloud floating in the blue! Every little cloud always sings aloud: How sweet to be a cloud floating in the blue! How sweet to be a cloud floating in the blue! It makes him very proud to be a little cloud. How sweet to be a cloud floating in the blue! Enough said. Pooh clearly is an awe-struck creature. Acceptance is the second attitude of a religious being. This is the ability to take the world as it is when there is nothing that can be done to change it. No bear in history has ever had such a high degree of acceptance as Pooh. Consider, for example, those occasions, mentioned at the beginning and the end of the first volume of the Pooh Saga, where Christopher Robin, a sometimes forgetful and cruel representative of the human species, carries Pooh up and down the stairs, holding him by his leg or arm, Pooh’s head bumping, tum, tum, tum, on each step as they go. Loud complaints? Cries of Bear abuse? None of it. Here is how Pooh is described as feeling: It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bump- ing for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom. What he cannot change, he quickly accepts. And once pain is ended, he bears who inflicted it. Think too of his courage in the business of being stuck in Rabbit’s hole, a position he came to by virtue of eating a bit too much while visiting with Rabbit. Yes, at first he is unhappy, but when Christopher Robin comes to read to him, he settles in for a week’s fast to slim down so he can make it through the hole, a perfectly contented bear who has accepted the lot fate has handed him. Then there is that final, farewell scene between Pooh and Christopher Robin—but that is simply too painful, too poignant, too pathetic for repetition here. Please, consult that on your own. In any case, enough has been said. Pooh is positively fat with acceptance. And so we come to love, that simple, terribly elusive element so essential to the life of a religious creature. Suffice it to say that all the great religions have taught that love is concern for others even as you care for yourself. Evidence that Pooh is a loving creature is abundant. You will recall Christopher Robin’s once saying, “Oh Bear! How I do love you.” And Pooh’s immediate reply, “So do I.” When Piglet found himself to be a very small animal surrounded by water, it was Pooh who first reacted to his distress signal and bravely went downstream on his honey pot to get Christopher Robin so that together they might rescue their dear little friend. Consider his reaction to Eeyore’s sadness on the day of that gloomy donkey’s birthday, a sadness brought on by an absence of presents. Here I quote from the text: This was too much for Pooh. “Stay there!” he called to Eeyore, as he turned and hurried back home as quick as he could; for he felt that he must get poor Eeyore a present of some sort at once, and he could always think of a proper one afterwards. Remember when Christopher Robin asks Piglet what he would do if his house was blown down, as Owl’s had been, and how quickly Pooh stepped in to say: “He’d come and live with me, wouldn’t you, Piglet?” And one final thing, and that is Pooh’s habit of working out his Ho-ish moods by singing a song, such as “Sing Ho! for the Life of a Bear.” As one commentator has remarked, Some people, when they feel like this, that is, when they are in a Ho-mood, either look for somebody to push over, or else they break something accidentally, but Pooh works it off by singing a small Ho-song. Truthfully now, wouldn’t the world be a better place if we all followed that loving way of working ourselves out of our Ho-moods? Pooh is a creature of love. The fourth characteristic of a religious person is the attitude of questioning and searching, and surely no one could doubt that Pooh has this in large measure. Often he is found asking himself questions, as in his little Hum about bears and honey: Isn’t it funny how a bear likes honey? Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, I wonder why he does? This determined pursuit of every philosophical question to the very depths of profundity is further manifested in his asking, in yet another Hum: What shall we do about poor little Tigger? If he never eats nothing he’ll never get bigger. Because of the taste and because of the bristles. And all the good things which an animal likes Have the wrong sort of swallow or too many spikes. But whatever his weight in pounds, shillings, and ounces, He always seems bigger because of his bounces. Now this is questioning at the very core of life. Why are we as we are? What makes us change and grow? How do we survive? Pooh is also an active searcher as well as a contemplative questioner. He goes on an exposition to the North Pole. He hears tales of the Heffalump from Christopher Robin and immediately lays plans to trap one that he might find out more about this fabled creature. His most noted hunt was his famous search for the elusive Woozle. Pooh is truly a creature who is not content to stand pat on what he knows or what others tell him. He must and he does seek out answers for himself. And, I confess, it was this quality in him which first led me to suspect the real, the deeper, the essential truth about Pooh. With much study and thought that suspicion has hardened into a certainty—and I gladly note that no one has even hinted at this idea before. I am completely alone in having seen what is really real, truly true, essentially essential about Pooh. Edward Bear, Winnie-ther-Pooh, popularly known as Winnie-the-Pooh or just Pooh, is not only a religious creature, he is a Unitarian Universalist religious creature! In the first place, he is very clearly an agnostic in matters having to do with God, a position typical of most Unitarian Universalists. Not once does he offer up a supplicatory prayer begging for divine intervention or rescue. Nor does he ever give thought to the life after this one—indeed, he rarely even gives thought to the morrow! This humanistic concern, this attention to the here and now, would stand him in good stead in most of our congregations. As for freedom, he is the very soul of it. He roams the Forest at will, letting his conscience and his curiosity guide him, constantly seeking out new and better ways of doing and defining things, always open to new knowledge. His tolerance is manifested in his willingness to bear with Rabbit’s many friends and relations and even more in the open reception he gives to the various new creatures— like Tigger, Kanga and Roo--who appear from time to time in the Forest. As for reason, consider this display of rigorous logic and stunning clarity, one of many scattered throughout the Saga. Pooh is out walking one day when he hears a loud buzzing noise coming from the top of a large oak tree. That you might experience first hand the full force of his mind, I now quote: “That buzzing-noise means something. You don’t get a buzzing noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something. If there’s a buzzing- noise, somebody’s making a buzzing-noise, and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you’re a bee.” Then he thought another long time, and said: “And the only reason for being a bee that I know of is making honey.” And then he got up, and said: “And the only reason for making honey is so as I can eat it.” At which point, and only at which point, careful reasoning having been applied to the problem, he begins to climb the tree. The height of his reasoning powers, however, is reached in his “Outdoor Hum for Snowy Weather.” He has managed to capture in this little ditty many of the feelings and thoughts of those encased in icy winter: The more it snows, tiddely pom, The more it goes, tiddely pom, The more it goes, tiddely pom, On snowing, on snowing. And nobody knows, tiddely pom, How cold my toes, tiddely pom, How cold my toes, tiddely pom, Are growing, are growing. Tra la la, tra la la, Tra la la, tra la la. Rum tum tiddle um tum. Tiddle iddle, tiddle iddle, Tiddle iddle, tiddle, iddle. Rum tum tum tiddle um. An objective evaluation of the life, the words, the thoughts of Pooh Bear can lead to no other conclusion than that the Pooh is one of us! I must hasten to conclude by saying that I have not brought these truths to your attention that I might personally lay claim to any special praise or honor. No! What hosannas of joy you feel like singing after this performance must be directed to Pooh himself, whose life and thought are now revealed in all their full wonder and glory, who teaches us that life is not all drudgery and hardship, but fun and adventure as well. When things get to be too much, when life seems overbearing beyond our ability to stand up to it, it is well to remember what the man who brought Pooh into our lives wrote as he closed the final volume of his stories: So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing. Every now and then, it is worth our while to join them. The Pooh Saga consists of Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. The edition I have used of these is a one volume one entitled, The World of Pooh by A.A. Milne, published by E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc., in 1957. Future references to this volume will be identified as Pooh. It seems apporpriate at this point to pause and give credit to the brilliant inspiration of my wife, Jane K. Phifer, AB, CD, EF, and G, who raced into the bathroom where I was showering to announce that Pooh was the bear I should preach on. I clapped my paws in excitement and immediately set out on the quest that led to this piece you are now reading, which had its first incarnation as a sermon, preached on February 13, 1977. I am not here using sorts as a noun, but rather as part of the adjectival phrase modifying scholar to indicate that my scholarship is of no particular kind. I certainly hope that no unkind person will mutter something about it also being of no particular merit! Roger Allen and his (son?, brother?, father?, friend?) Stephen Allen have perpetrated more than one of these volumes using “cutesy” titles to lure in the unsuspecting reader. Among them are Winnie-the-Pooh on Problem Solving: In Which Pooh, Piglet and Friends Explore How To Solve Problems So You Can Too (on the cover of which is a crude drawing of Pooh in a red tie and blue suit(!) with a lap-top computer beside him!! And Winnie-the-Pooh On Management: In Which a Very Important Bear and His Friends Are Introduced To a Very Important Subject. Other book titles include Pooh’s Little Etiquette Book, Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, The Pooh Dictionary, Pooh’s Little Fitness Book, Pooh’s Workout Book, and Eeyore’s Gloomy Little Instruction Book. Talk about people cashing in on a beloved figure! The Pooh Song Book by A.A. Milne. E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1961. This excellent volume contains The Hums of Pooh, The King’s Breakfast, and some fourteen selections from When We Were Very Young. It was put together three years after Milne’s death and represents one of the finest collections of Poohiana. Henceforward it will be referred to as Song Book. Pooh, 103-120, especially 120. The Pooh Perplex: A Freshman Casebook by Frederick C. Crews. E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc., 1963. I will refer to this work as Perplex. Perplex, ix. Where, for example, is Eve’s counterpart? Perplex, 136. Ibid, 136. Ibid, 96-97. Pooh, 86. Pooh, 285. Song Book, 21-22. Pooh, 7. Pooh, 25-35. Pooh, 306-317. Pooh, 69. Pooh, 121-135. Pooh, 74. Pooh, 297. Song Book, 34. Pooh, 11. Pooh, 182-183. Pooh, 103-120. Pooh, 56-69. Pooh, 36-44. In the case of Tigger, for example, Pooh is aroused from his sleep by a noise- “worraworraworraworraworra”-to find “Whatever-it-was” on his doorstep. He welcomes him in, offers him a comfortable spot on the floor to sleep and promises him a solid breakfast in the morning (which proves to be somewhat more difficult than Pooh thought it would be). See Pooh, 173-175 ff. Regarding the introduction of Kanga and Roo into the Forest, see Pooh, 86-102. Note that in this story not only does Pooh seem quite reluctant to follow through on the nefarious plans of Rabbit, but is the most open and friendly of all the animals to the newcomers. That, of course, is why he is chosen to divert Kanga with talk. Furthermore, notice the tolerance Pooh has for his friends. He plays along with their scheme, undoubtedly to be sure that no real harm comes to Roo, and yet, though he is uncertain of the wisdom or appropriateness of their actions, he in no way chastises them or stand in judgment of them. Truly the most tolerant of creatures! Pooh, 9-10. The version of the Hum reprinted here is taken from the Song Book, 47-49. For purists, note should be taken of Pooh, 158 and 161, where the original version appears. Later refinement added the “tra la la’s” and the “tiddle iddle’s.” Whichever version of the Hum is preferred, we can all agree that the spirit of Pooh is present in both. It is also worth quoting here what appears as a comment in the Song Book: This is Pooh’s favorite song, and mine too. It is described in the catalogues as an “outdoor Hum for Snowy Weather” and there is a special footnote by Mr. Brown, the manager, to say that the chorus can be sung separately while doing stoutness exercises, but really anybody can sing it anywhere. It is very good for keeping the feet warm, which is really why Pooh made it up. See Song Book, 46. Pooh, 313-314. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Frederick C. Crews, The Pooh Perplex: A Freshman Casebook, E.P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1963. 2. Virginia H. Ellison, The Pooh Party Book, Yearling Books, New York. 3. ……..……………, The Pooh Cook Book, Yearling Books, New York. 4. ………………….., The Pooh Get-Well Book, Yearling Books, New York. 5. Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh, E.P. Dutton, Inc., New York, 1982. 6. ………………., The Te of Piglet, Penguin Books, New York, 1983. 7. A.A. Milne, The World of Pooh (contains both Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner), E.P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1957. 8. ………….., The World of Christopher Robin, E.P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1958. 9. ………….., The Pooh Song Book, E.P. Dutton and Co., 1961. 10. …………, Winnie Ille Pu (translated by Alexander Lenard), E.P. Dutton and Co., 1960. 11. …………, Pooh’s Alphabet Book, Yearling Books, New York, 1975. 12. …………, Pooh’s Birthday Book, Yearling Books, New York. 13. Christopher Milne, The Enchanted Places, E.P. Dutton and Co., New York, 1975. 4