“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully.
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.”
“And he has Brain.”
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.”
There was a long silence.
“I suppose,” said Pooh, “that that’s why he never understands anything.”
~ Benjamin Hoff
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff is a wonderful, whimsical, entertaining little book on the principles of enlightenment – with plenty of digs at both the too-smart-by-half clever and the self-congratulatory learned “wise”.
“Now one rather annoying thing about scholars is that they are always using Big Words that some of us can’t understand … and one sometimes gets the impression that those intimidating words are there to keep us from understanding. That way, the Scholars can appear Superior, and will not likely be suspected of Not Knowing Something.”
~ Benjamin Hoff
In these fine days of the oxymoron that is “trust the science” the reminder to question the science, test the hypothesis, and challenge the gate keepers of the ivory towers of education and knowledge is all too welcome.