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Not to feel that you feel,
not to know that you know,
but just to feel, just to know–
how liberating!
~ Br. David Steindl-Rast
Welcome.
In his book A Listening Heart: The Spirituality of Sacred Sensuousness, Br. David guides readers in an exploration of some aspects of a peak experience. He proposes an experiment in which we close our eyes and recall a major or minor peak of our past experience. Maybe it was “a moment on a mountain top…Or sitting on a fence-rail dangling your legs, not in boredom, not at all, but in utter absorption. Absorption into what? Into nothing; for nothing happened.” He goes on to reflect upon the fact that our peak experience is “an altogether unreflective moment,” writing “Only afterwards can I reflect on it and so talk about it. And what I am then inclined to say is something like ‘I was simply swept off my feet,’ or…’I had lost myself,’ This was all. But not quite all. For looking back I will also admit that at that moment of my Peak Experience I was more truly and more fully myself than at any other time.”
Haiku and calligraphy by Br. David Steindl-Rast
Through this exercise, Br. David suggests that “we have gained access to Haiku from within.” He writes, “If you have become aware that you are most truly yourself when you forget yourself; that in truly being alone you are one with all…you have discovered in your own experience the paradox in which Haiku has its roots.”
The Practice
Today, we invite you to close your eyes and bring to mind a major or minor peak experience, referencing Br. David’s guidance above. Let it be a moment of utter absorption in which you “forgot yourself.”
Once you have relived this moment, notice what words begin to arise in your recall of this peak experience. With this experience fresh in your heart and mind, experiment with writing a haiku.
We invite you to reflect on your experience in a notebook or in the reflection area below. If you’d like, you may also share your haiku.
You may have noticed that Br. David signs his haiku as “Anon.” You might explore doing this for your own haiku. Notice how it impacts the poem. Notice how it feels for you. Imagine how it might land with others.
Enjoy the full eight-day Exploring Haiku practice.
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Still meandering along at my own pace as the Spirit moves.
Serendipity that we have been visited by so many butterflies lately. Vibrant red and yellow echinacea, bell shaped soft lavender hosta blossoms. They can’t resist.
I wrote in my journal that although I have been to the Grand Canyon, it is the birth of my daughters that springs to mind as my “peak experience”. They surprised me, these miraculous creatures.
Waiting, empty, longing
Afraid to hope.
And then…Surprise!
Godspace
Space between thoughts
Free
Kites flutter above
Sun, breeze, and music playing
Soaking in the peace
Birds calling, soaring,
fresh morning breeze carrying
sights and smells of dawn
Now, think about it,
she said, the moment destroyed.
The day remains good.
(We overthink too often, Where is the fun in that?)
Not a haiku but what I came up with:
In New Moon darkness
I sit on a dock
listening to unseen sea creatures jumping in the bay:
plop, plop, plop.
Softly they splash all night,
the same as the first fish,
as the ancestral fish of billions of years ago.
In primordial salt water,
under the stars,
Time began.
Long before I came to be
with fish plopping unseen
in salt water,
Time started ticking forward.
The fish, sea and stars
will continue
in their slow procession onward
long after I have come to pass.
flooding sound overwhelms
slipping into reverie
Mozart oh Mozart
Exasperations walking
Breathing with delight
A glass of water
Cold snowy night
Taxi ride warmth between us
A rush from the star highest
Angst and pain with relief ahead
Approaching life
Higher eve
PowWow dancing magic flows.
Colorful music…..
rising high raises the heart
in the flooded road
a heron stands, intensely
still, i stop, he flies
Quiet night at sea.
Dolphins glide silently by
in swirls of blue light.
An invitation
To breathe, to bathe, and to splash
No bathing suits here
Thank you for this 4th practice on Haiku. Each practice strikes a heartfelt chord This practice hits me quietly with an aha moment:
THIS is what haiku is about :
Just being in the moment with nature; for whatever is happening right there. Also attention, curiosity, observation, appreciation,engagement, play and joy coming together in one brief moment and captured with 17 syllables.
A micro moment of aliveness.
A life giving pause to today fast pace of life.
With Gratitude
‘A micro moment of aliveness.’ Yes! Thank you Merie.
Thank you,Serafina for adding joy. Resonance. Smiles.
A misty morning
Walk on wet grass, bare footed
Quiet and carefree
Under Northern Lights
Feeling massive energy
we are so, so small
Ice veins the pond
snow dusts the leaves
yet this red rose unfolds to life!
Last winter a few days before Christmas I looked out into our garden and saw a miniature rose with three buds showing color! It had snowed lightly the night before, and for weeks everything in the garden had gone into winter slumber. On Christmas Eve the temperatures were predicted to plummet, so I brought the blossoms inside where they graced our Christmas table.
on the bark-bare log
mountainside whispers come be
cradled in wild flowers
Wow! The hurricane last summer has left us much the same. These lovely lines remind so much of the. universal experience we share. Thank you!
Making love with spouse
creates: joy, pain, life, death;worth
cost of the covenant.
Years ago we had a son who died at birth. The healing remedy was to love again, create a new life again. It was scary. This is not something they tell you about in marriage prep programs, that in making love all of the aspects of life are also created. And yet, we are fortunate because of our committed relationship, our covenant and trust in those words of “I do….for better or worse,” and in that experience we realized, i.e. made real, the worth of our commitment, our covenant to each other. In that, we shared a moment of God’s love and commitment to us. Subsequently, we had three more children. We continue to be grateful.
Sending you and yours blessings.
Naming gulls, crafting tales of loss and passion
Toes deep in sand
My girl and I laugh tears
On San Simeon
pier encompassed by vastness
of peerless blue sky.
Still summer morning
Lone loon paddles silently
Barely a ripple
Kayaking near shore
Hear water gurgle behind
See pines bend in wind
Snow on the mountain
Reflected in the water
Praise for Creation
Snow on Palm Sunday
Driving, I brake for small birds
bewildered with Spring
Bewildered with spring, what a lovely phrasing!
Light spring rain dapples my glasses
Clouds part
Rainbows fill my eyes.
“Anon” is interesting…. The paradox of sight/insight and “my” sight/insight. Of a peak experience being an experience of presence and the retelling with haiku a sharing of that present in which it become’s the reader’s…thus “anon”… Very cool.
Heavy snow Silence
Hot tub steam rises…
I KNOW!
I laugh.
… then I cry
From two very different events:
Robust in rhythm
Elemental force
Natural, uncontrived
Emergence, expansion
Perfection, in the moment
Complete, abundant
hollow
empty vessel
tears tumble
forgiveness is my own
No space between us
Last breath upon us
There is only love
I feel the tears roll
The sun shines on my face
Water dries on the skin
Dying dad greets wife
owner of cruel pointed barbs
eyes flash tenderness
Roaring whitewater
Raft swept into the current
Then, a wild ride!
Going with the flow
Totally in the moment
One with the water
grassy green glade
solitary child entranced
with overflowing fulness
Thoughts not me
Mind not me
Body not me
Who is me?
Fir trees reach for sky
Stream meanders to river
Sun-warmed rock grounds me
Free falling rollercoaster
Terrified screams
Self forgetting catharsis
The enduring vastness of the landscape.
I feel so small and impermanent.
April snow . . . SURPRISE!
Elkhorn Mountains wearing ermine capes
Classy
The specific event isn’t important except to say it was out in nature and has happened more than once. Relecting on it this is all there is:
nothingness
is
oneing
—unknown
palm sunday
birdsong floats through
a morning fog
water meets water
the creek becomes a river
rushing to the sea
music of flute and water over rocks
i achieve mountain peaks and
breakfast with the ancients
Cliff edge opens to vastness,
outside and inside of me…
Greater than the sky.
Oh my God, you are here!
The door will open
by softly turning the key.
Do not pull or push!
alone, all one, me
thunder heard in the distance
I have company
That’s lovely.
Midnight light stillness
mist over water silences minds
Divine presence known
Water shimmering,
Dazzled by sparkling sunlight
Timeless memory
Eye level with the clouds
sounds drift up from the village
i am but a speck
Herbs for soul cleansing
Shaman calls on the spirits
the hike down absolves
The Andes tower
around me as I descend
a lush valley awaits
~π
MagPi, our Haiku both reflect a similar experience. Island of the Sun, Huayna Picchu…
Highway driving
Clouds thickening
Climate changing- earth blessings.
Sunrise and sunset
Paint supermarket sidewalks—
Hydrangea blossoms
One with mother earth
Solitude a great gift
Gratitude to Him
Dawn breaks, approaching Manhattan
On a dark, glass water way
Epic!
Blue turns frothy white
then blue again, as waves curl,
falling into self.
Paddling the river,
feeling one with the eagle, the pine –
we are all stardust.
~~
Paddling in high winds,
going backwards at times.
The exultation of arrival.
Going backwards at times and the exultation of arrival . . . how true that resonates
The mind knows not
Where the heart wants to dwell
Listen!
Two clear drops meet
become one
a tear.
Water cools my pain
sizzles, sooths.
A new vision.
Into a terse pond
a frog plunges
flop!
My version of Basho
On the metal roof
Raindrops tap dance up above
I am dancing too!
I join silent crowd,
climb hill’s crest, gaze down, and gasp!
Hopi Deer Dancers!
River boat on the Thames
Awaits the excited sightseers
The birth of memories
Predawn rushing stream
The fall chill and falling leaves
Puddles of full moons
Bringing back a magical early morning experience of a clear mountain stream, in the dark of an early October morning, a full moon reflected in each of the puddles between the rocks. No words.
Pine Needles Falling
Along comes a butterfly
Palm branches graceful
Tucked in a truck bed
Hear the highway harmony
Western sky of stars
Angel voices
hover
Canopy arches
watch
careening
heads
bathed in
wonder
This is a reflection on the first time I experienced the enormity and awe of being inside a beautiful cathedral.
Tender green leaves flutter on the vine.
They climb and tangle.
Sunlight illuminates without and within.
One with the gulls,
bright sun warming a cold day.
Just sitting, a soft breeze blows.
A quiet respite for us all.
Hurricane strength 3
Astonishing silence
In thundering noise
We stand quiet
Listening
my Beloved and I
Sky and surf dance as one
came to complete stop
water’s edge tiny pebbles
keen focus
dissolve
Pause. Inhaling without judgement,
with curiosity and generosity.
Further exploration.
sitting, smoke tendrils,
floating prayers to the heavens
chickadee on snow
Dawn breaking
Though rainy and dark
Birds begin song.
Alone with the wind,
Caressing my face, inland sea,
Ah, the breath of God.
After reflecting on several recent major and minor peak experiences that I had to produce first a poem, then a haiku, related, but not identical in sense.
On the Mountaintop
Swim through ordinary days
considering centuries of worn steps.
Face oncoming storms with kindness,
remembering the poignance of love.
Be determined. Be stunning and majestic
and infinite as stars’ songs in sacred stone spaces
or paintings hung by the wine-dark sea
to reflect and amplify the energy
of our souls, crafted mirrors
of unknown magic.
To the Mountaintop
centuries’ worn steps
carry with kindness and love
our enchanted souls.
Baby being born
Miracles are happening
Every second.
~Anon
quiet, listening
spend a lot of time thinking
An epiphany
Grand Canyon below
Helicopter whisking me
Joyful tears streaming
become a channel
lose desires, expectations
creativity flows
Thank you, perfect for us today.