Jungian Pooh

As promised, I present the personalities of the characters in A.A. Milne's classic, Winnie the Pooh. I am not the first to compare the inhabitants of the 100 Acre Wood with modern personality types. The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff does this quite well. This is not a stretch, however. Clearly each animal is meant to represent some Jungian archetype. Here I shall list the character, his or her traits, and the modern equivalent.

Eeyore

The blue donkey known as Eeyore is blue for a reason. Eeyore is the epitome of apathy, dispassion, listlessness, and depression. The somber Eeyore is a pessimist. He lives in a simple shelter of a number of piled together sticks. Why? Because that is the best he can hope to get. He falls in a stream and floats and floats, never struggling to make his way to the bank. He waits for someone to help him out - just as long as it is no bother. His unwillingness to provide for himself coupled with the passive-aggressive manner are the main traits of this mournful quadraped. Nevertheless, many of us love Eeyore dearly. Why? Because the little Donkey that couldn't appeals to our own melancholy.

Learned helplessness is the psychological basis behind apathy. Repeated failure leads to no longer trying. If a dog is placed on an electrified floor and has no means of escape, it has little choice but to lament the situation. Repeated experiences in this electrified room conditions the dog to this state of being. One day, when a partition is removed to allow the canine and escape from discomfort, the dog does not take the opportunity. Experience has proven that escape is impossible. Why should this time be any different.

So it is with man. Repeated failure conditions us to anticipate failure. Like Eeyore, we do not strive as hard as we should. We do not swim for the bank of the river. When we accept failure as the only outcome, an attempt to change the situation seems futile. Why bother? As such, many of us remain in a less than desirable position simply because no other option presents itself - or so we think. The pessimist does not bother hoping for the best, let alone taking action to improve things.

That is not to say the Eeyore personality is joyless. The pessimist can find value in the small things, in consistency and routine. Even isolation can provide solace for the blue. Eeyore does not seek to be with his friends. If they come by, fine. So much for misery loving company.

Gopher

Gopher is not a very popular character. The blind, gruffy rodent is an industrious sort. He is known to be digging his tunnels into which other characters occasionally fall. Gopher did not appear in the storybook. he is an invention of Disney, based primarily on the beaver from Lady and the Tramp. Gopher typically whistles through his teeth as he speaks. He also has very poor eyesight.

Gopher represents the older generation, primarily the veteran generation. Those that experienced WWII and/or lived through the great depression have a strong work ethic. They are stern, no nonsense people with a strong moral center. It is clear that gopher is meant to be older. Furthermore, Gopher spends most of his life underground. Much like older generations hole up in their homes, are wary of new technology and recent trends, and the like - Gopher's existence underground and in the dark is more literal than symbolic.

Despite unfamiliarity with current trends, the older generation has experience. Gopher's experience often comes in useful. Wisdom, too, is an asset of the older generation. Gopher embraces this dichotomy of wisdom and experience and contemporary ineptitude and conditions of age.

Kanga

Kanga is the only female character in the storybooks. As mother to Roo, she embraces the aspects of motherhood and femininity. She is affectionate and protective. Though not very educated, she is naturally inclined to do the best for her son and by extension her friends. Later, she welcomes Roo's friend, Tigger, into their home.

Clearly Kanga is the archetypical woman, combining elements of the Empress and the Priestess from the tarot. In one respect, she is mother and protector. The matron of 100 Acre Wood, Kanga is the primary caregiver. Meanwhile, she incorporates women's intuition, that knowing without knowing. She knows when there is trouble, when her son is in danger. She also knows when someone is playing a joke on her.

Owl

Owl is a bespectacled bird living in a stately home high up in a tree. Owl is educated, or so he thinks. He is able to read and write, almost. He is quick to advice, instruction, and anecdotes regarding distant family members. Owl explicitly embodies the archetype of the educator. He is an academic.

Academia is under the illusion that it is providing young minds with the assets necessary in surviving the work a day world. However, real life is often worlds apart from the class room. The teacher is often removed from reality, living in an ivory tower of textbooks and chemistry sets. That is not all. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Armed with half the facts, the academic is prone to fill in the blanks with supposition. That owl assumes Piglets home is his own is such a leap to conclusions.

Owl is quick to state some meaningless fact, which typically is false or only half true. I, too, find that I offer facts, opinions, advice, etc. a little too freely. There is something owl like in my manner. Even this blog has the mark of the owl. A bit preachy, a bit self-aggrandizing, a bit pedantic.

Piglet

Piglet is Pooh Bear's very best friend. He is very small and knows this to be true. His small stature makes him timid and meek. He is fearful, even of his own shadow. Yet, he has a big heart.

The funny thing about those of a nervous disposition, those that jump at shadows, is that when a real crises presents itself, often they overcome fear. It is as though the truly frightening is beyond their capacity. Those that jump at the shadow of a beast when confronted with a beast do not jump. In the Te of Piglet, Hoff expounds on the virtues of the small, the integrity of piglet. He is righteous in a nonjudgmental fashion, he is brave when courage is required, he is loyal when friends are troubled.

Piglet has many qualities I admire, and by extension those qualities I find in people. Humility, compassion, caution, loyalty. These traits make up a good friend.

Rabbit

As discussed in the podcast, Rabbit is the least liked of the inhabitants of 100 Acre Wood. Rabbit can be summed up in one word, stress. He places an exorbitant importance on things. He guards his garden from Tigger and Gopher. He protects his honey from Pooh. We fails to grasp the concept of sharing, the enjoyment to be had by giving to friends. Simply, he cannot let go.

We are familiar with the type, the workaholics, the micromanagers. Those who place too much importance on things, on routines, on the destination and not the journey will only find dismay. The four noble truths of Buddhism state that 1) life is suffering and that 2) suffering comes from attachment. Attachment is the process of identifying ourselves with objects, in a sense actual objects of desire. Cars, yachts, houses, clothing, electronics, anything that can be consumed. These are fragile things with no real value outside that we attach to it. By strapping our sense of self to these objects, our ego, too, is just as fragile and hollow.

The Rabbit personality claims to own things, but they really own him. Consider how much time he spends in his garden. If he only knew that gardens naturally grow.

Roo

The sun of Kanga, Roo is the embodiment of child like innocence. A friend of Tigger and Piglet, Roo is playful, with that spirit of adventure that most boys have. He balances Piglet, as he draws the gentle pig out of his comfort zone. He balances Tigger as, though found of activity, Roo is more responsible.

Back to the tarot, the first card, the 0 card, is The Fool. The Fool represents child like innocence and that sense of adventure. The Fool is fearless, as all young boys tend to be. Death cannot touch him. The Fool is an optimist as well, with eyes fixed on the distant horizon and not the dangerous precipice before him. Roo, and children like Roo, carry this spirit in their hearts. Some maintain this adventurous spirit into adulthood, becoming test pilots, explorers, astronauts.

Tigger

Nearly everyone's favorite character, usually with the exception of Pooh, is Tigger. Tigger is bold, brash, exuberant, friendly, outgoing. He embodies those traits that make one popular. He seems entertaining, certainly fun at parties. And Tigger means well. There is no question that he appreciates having friends. He is the very epitome of the extrovert.

However, there is a down side to Tigger. Consider if you would like Tigger as much if he were real and an actual friend. Where ever he goes, he leaves a trail of destruction like a tornado. He is a whirlwind of activity. One is reminded of either someone with Attention Deficit Disorder or a major sugar high (or some other stimulant). Life with a Tigger personality, though exciting, is also exhausting. Tigger types love life, and seek to squeeze every drop of enjoyment from life. Sadly, this often leaves everyone around them drained.

Tigger types, though lovable, are best experienced in small doses.

Winnie the Pooh

The bear of very simple brain, Winnie the Pooh, is a strange archetype for a hero. He is absolutely without guile. If he comes to your house, he willingly admits that he has come for a jar of honey. True, he may engage in some pleasant conversation as well, but his motives are there on the table. He is by no means a thinker, he is not even that much of a doer. He just is.

In the Tao of Pooh, Hoff compares these qualities with those of the Daoist sage. The goal of Daoist path is to return to simplicity. When your only concerns are food and sleep, then you have stripped away all the extraneous detritus from your life and are just that closer to wuji - the state of formlessness comparable to nirvana.

Pooh is what he is. Sadly this is looked down upon in our society. A lack of ambition is viewed as laziness. Honestly is regarded as crude and blunt. Simplicity in speech and manner is deemed unsophisticated to downright stupid.

Yet Pooh Bear forms the hub of this circle of friends. Each knows what they may expect of Pooh. Pooh has no hidden agenda. Even Rabbit tolerates Pooh to some degree, setting aside a few jars of honey for when the gentle bear drops by.

So, there you have it. The personalities of the characters devised by A.A. Milne as compared to our own personality archetypes. Which are you? Well, I think each, even Rabbit, reside in our hearts. That we feel a certain way about each reflects on how we view those separate elements of our psyche. That I find my knack for pedantry an embarrassment, yet regard my timidity with less disdain directly correlates with how I view Owl and Piglet.