Carpe Diem #541, Inner Self (Solitude)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you did enjoy the CD-Special by Jim Kacian and that it inspired you to write an all new haiku or two (or more maybe). I don't give you a lot of time to let go of Jim Kacian, because our new prompt is already ahead of us.
We are still reading "Sand & Foam" by Khalil Gibran and that is still a joy. Every episode needs preparation and some research ... so it's not an easy task to create it. Today our prompt is Inner Self and I think this idea "Inner Self" has been earlier in our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai history. To me it sounds that familiar, so I sought out our CDHK history and ran into several posts in which I mentioned "Inner Self". E.g. last year we had a whole month of prompts about the Tarot (May 2013) and in our first anniversary month (October 2013) we had a wonderful post about the Vision Quest provided by Maggie Grace. You can find that post HERE. It's a really nice post and worth reading it.
For today's prompt I have chosen a nice quote from "Sand & Foam":

[...] "Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; Yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth". [...]

Credits: In The Enchanted Forest J.Chanders (Vision Quest)

I think this 'verse' is a deeper thought to the idea of the Inner Self. It's my thought that we can only find our Inner Self by meditating and contemplating and I have really once have done a Vision Quest to find my Deeper Inner Self ... I remember that it wasn't a joy to look at myself than, I was on the bad trail to the occult and it wasn't easy to go back ... I finally succeeded by asking for help and writing haiku and a novel (my first ever published, now being translated into English in the US) to get away from the occult ... It felt great to go back to the right trail and I found my Inner Strenght and my Inner Self ... it has made me whom I am now.

deep down inside
hiding in the deeper layers of the soul
divine inspiration

© Chèvrefeuille

Another haiku/senryu ispired on this post:

scent of incense
guiding me through the depths of my soul -
showing the light

© Chèvrefeuille 

Credits: Scent of Incense

Finding the Inner Self is an everlasting task ... not an easy task, but it always will bring you joy and peace. To learn to know yourself can be anxious, but it's a path we all have to go.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 20th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our new episode, tapestry, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.