The Value of Nothing

A few excerpts from the great book The Tao of Pooh.  If you haven’t read it…do! 🙂  It is simple, poignant, and everyone knows the Winnie the Pooh characters!

 

While the clear mind listens to a bird singing, the stuffed-full-of-knowledge-and-cleverness mind wonders what kind of bird is singing.

 

To attain knowledge, add things every day.  To attain wisdom, remove things every day

 

Gathering, analyzing, sorting, and storing information – these functions and more the mind can perform so automatically, skillfully, and effortlessly that it makes the most sophisticated computer look like a plastic toy by comparison.  But it can do infinitely more.  To use the mind as it’s all too commonly used, on the kinds of things that it is usually used on, is about as efficient and inappropriate as using a magic sword to open a can of beans.  The power of a clear mind is beyond description.  But it can be attained by anyone who can appreciate the value of Nothing.