My tendency is to focus on small things, something said, something someone has quoted from sources outside themselves, or sometimes a word will garner my attention and connections are made. With Christmas close now and the pressure on commercial purchases aka known as gifts, I believe we could save a lot of money by gifting words of others rather than scrambling to spend money you don’t have. This post is about the power of small things to enlighten us if we allow it.
I recently read an article entitled The Healing Power of Haiku: Maureen Sexton. As you may or may not know I love Japanese poetry, particularly the haiku, tanka and haibun. Sometimes I feel as if there are different people buzzing around inside my head between the poetry, romance novels and blogging.
The simple truth is I love diversity and although fiction, blogging and Japanese poetry sit under the writing umbrella, all have their own individual personality and I like being drawn to different things and not just in the world of reading and writing. In this case Maureen’s words highlighted the reasons I am so enthralled with Japanese prose. “After much research and experience,” she says, “I have learned that haiku can be so much more than a form of poetry. It can also be a lifestyle, a healing tool, and a tool for environmental activism.” Subsequently, I would add all forms of writing have this ability, but the Japanese prose has an edge of sorts.
There is a great comfort in brevity, in simplicity. Our focus is immediately grabbed, and meanings swiftly processed. As a result, our willingness to look deeper slides smoothly into our minds – a natural process of exploration. In fact, one of Maureen’s pieces is a wonderful example of how the image created in the mind becomes an ‘evoker’ of depth, the kind that spews forth a mixture of ideals, theories, beauty, and pleasure. Brevity and simplicity allow a modicum of success in understanding. From there we can explore further.
school tuck-shop —
a drone of bees
by the bubblers
Maureen Sexton, 2018
We know what a tuckshop (canteen for others) looks like, we know bees and bubblers. I see the bees as the children of our future – the honey makers. And yet their excitable voices can be daunting, often a cacophony of loud noise all with one purpose – some kind of gratifying purchase. They are robotic and yet because they are single minded a queen bee keeps a species surviving and we have honey. Consequently, the government comes to mind, control comes to mind, fairness comes to mind and all from a few simple words.
A few days after reading Maureen’s haiku I came across two beautiful pieces used in a blog post I follow – A life of Virtue and once again the simplicity of the topic made a strong impact.
Softness
Nothing in the world
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
(Chapter 78, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell translation)
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
(Chapter 76, Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell translation)
Is simplicity a threat? Do we embellish to make ourselves sound more important and more to the point, do we really need to? What would happen if we kept to the essence of things, if we communicated in a simpler, straightforward manner. What if we appreciated the purity of water? It knows the difference between the hard and soft and how to prevail. It knows balance. Think how much easier it would be if the essence (the reality) was presented to us and not the dramatic embellishments so common with media.
We live in a world where power rules and power is a fancy word for ego. The embellishments feed that power, frighten, and confuse those of us wanting only to lead a purposeful and happy life. Perhaps if we allow simplicity to rule, we may achieve a better outcome for all. We might actually understand each other and feel connected as a community. What if we followed this very simple prayer, I found in a post by another blogger I follow (Earthwalking):
Teach me how to trust My Heart, My Mind, My Intuition, My Inner Knowing, The Senses of my Body, The Blessings of my Spirit.
Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my Sacred Space and Love Beyond my Fear, and thus, Walk in Balance with the passing of each glorious Sun.
– Lakota Prayer
Questions for me? Want to share your views and ideas? I’d love to hear from you. And a like and a comment will keep me working hard. if by chance you read my books or a book I have featured on here then remember to leave a review either on Goodreads or where you originally purchased the book. It’s the way a writer improves.
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Some lovely poetry. Really enjoyed it.
Thanks for sharing I love this.
So kind of you to say, thank you.
Lovely post Barbara !