Carpe Diem Namasté, The Spiritual Way #10 Ascension

!!! The submission for this "weekend-meditation" starts next Sunday May 28th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our CDHK "Namasté, The Spiritual Way". This week I love to challenge you to create haiku, tanka or an other Japanese poetery form, inspired on "Ascension". As I publish this episode "Ascension Day" (or in Dutch, Hemelvaartsdag) is almost over. You all will know that Ascension Day is a Christian holiday in which the Ascension of Jesus Christ is celebrated. But here at CDHK I do not pretend to promote the Christian belief or which other religion there is. So I have tried to make this "weekend-meditation" more common than Ascension Day will be.

I have chosen to tell you more about Ascension. Maybe you remember or Theme Week about "The Ascended Masters" in that theme -week I also told you about Ascension. Today however I love to watch to the more spiritual meaning of Ascension. (Source: Ascension Symptoms)

Ascension

Many people are confused about what Ascension means when it is referred to in the spiritual sense. Ascension can mean different things to many people. The literal definition of the word ascension means: the act of ascending or ascent; to be risen up or to climb. The concept or idea of Ascension itself can be explained in several different contexts depending on the spiritual tradition or philosophy.

Ascension, in a simple and spiritual sense is very similar to the Eastern concept of Enlightenment found in Buddhism. To become Enlightened can simply mean to have "full comprehension of a situation". Enlightenment is a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God or Source, profound spiritual understanding or a fundamentally changed consciousness whereby everything is perceived as an interconnected unity.

Ascension in its basic spiritual or mystical sense can be thought of as the highest state of Man (humanity). It is the expansion of awareness. It involves the realization of being ONE with the Creator and all of creation. An individual is 'ascending' in the sense that something of a lower vibration is ascending; is is being 'raised up' or becoming higher in vibration. This is why many Spiritual traditions aim to achieve the dissolution of the human ego (lower self) in order to realize the true nature of their being, or Higher Self.

Ascension, in this spiritual sense of the word, does not mean that one's physical body is lifted off the ground and flies through the air, ascending up into or above the clouds towards a physical place called 'heaven', although some religious adherents still literally imagine this very scenario. But for the sake of understanding, If Ascension did actually involve entering heaven without dying, then it would be more accurate to say that Ascension is about 'bringing heaven to earth' by raising the 'lower vibrational aspect of your non-physical being to a higher vibrational state of being or realization.

Ascension can also be understood in a more metaphysical way by considering the concept of 'Dimensions' or 'planes of existence, or planes of conscious'. This would mean that Ascension is about shifting from one dimension, frequency, plane of existence or conscious (such as the 'lower' physical Earth plane) to another plane, dimension or state of consciousness that is of a 'higher frequency'.

The Ascension of Jesus Christ

Maybe you know about several Ascensions. There is of course the "Ascension of the Christ", but there are other ideas about Ascension. For example there is the Ascension of Buddha.

Ascension of Buddha

But there is also the Ascension of the Prophet, Muhammad.

The Ascension of Muhammad Miraj-Isra

In my opinion Ascension isn't something physical, but it is spiritual. In this time of Aquarius, we all will ascend to a higher state of spirituality. We will go into another dimension, another state of thinking.
Ascension is becoming more spiritual, maybe it is the moment that you choose to take another path to fulfillment, or spiritual growth. I think that we, haiku poets, are creating our own "ascension" through our haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form, because we are one with nature, with the cosmos.

What does Hinduism tells us about Ascension?

According to Hindu philosophy, by living a life of Truth governed by various forms of yoga, anyone can ascend to the ultimate state of moksa - release from the round and round cycle of birth and death. This is achieved by understanding the Inner Self (God), by overcoming ignorance and desire requires one to live constantly (every act, thought and breath) in the awareness of God. Paradoxically, moksa cannot be attained if it is one's goal. Ascension to moksa can only occur when one life of Truth transcends all desires (including the desire for moksa). The dynamics and liveliness of the Hindu belief system allows for use of ancient texts as well as continuous contemporary instruction on exactly how to live in Truth.

Atman, Ascension in Hinduism (image found on Pinterest)

As I re-read this (maybe to long) episode of Namasté, The Spiritual Way, than I think I am more a guy that fits in the idea of Ascension as taught by Hinduism, because I think that through living a good life full of truth I will ascend to a higher consciousness, another spiritual dimension.

For this "weekend-meditation" I have sought the Internet for haiku on Ascension. Here are a few examples that I encountered:

Morning fog lifts
the grayness of the still creek,
joy in ascension

© macandrew

ascension colors

ever changing from downfall 

grows stronger with time

© Marty King

the glorious light

touches my poetic soul

am I a witness

© Joyce Johnson

As I was searching the Internet I ran into "The Haiku Stairs", a steep hike on the island O'ahu Hawaii. This "Haiku Stairs", has nothing to do with our haiku, it has to do with a flower that grows on this island, but I was surprised as I read the other name "The Stairway to Heaven"; and that fits our theme for this "weekend-meditation" in a great way. So I just had to include it here.

"The Haiku Stairs" or  "The Stairway to Heaven"

To conclude this "weekend-meditation" on Ascension I have a few haiku that I wrote themed Ascension, these are all from my archives.

keeper of the flame
protects the world and its inhabitants
until they rise up

universal experience
walking on the path of wisdom
finding the truth

ascension
conquering the seven paths
into Christ Consciousness

dervishes whirling
seeking a higher consciousness -
third eye opens

© Chèvrefeuille

It has become a (to long)  episode, but I loved creating it for you all. And of course this is our "weekend-meditation", so you have all weekend to meditate and contemplate about Ascension.

This "weekend-meditation" is open for your submissions next Sunday May 28th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 2nd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode around that time too. For now ... enjoy your weekend.

Carpe Diem Namasté, The Spiritual Way #9 Mother's Day

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday May 14th at 7.00 PM (CET) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new “weekend-meditation”. This week I have a nice episode of “Namasté, The Spiritual Way” for you and I think you will love it.

Next Sunday, May 14th, it's Mother's Day and therefore our prompt for this “weekend-meditation”  is Mother's Day, but what is Mother's Day? Is it just a celebration day for Mothers? I have sought the Internet for some information about this holiday and I ran into the following.

Mother's Day is a celebration honoring mothers and motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. She then began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s. Jarvis' holiday was adopted by other countries and it is now celebrated all over the world.

In ancient Greece there was already a Mother's Day for Cybele, but who was she? Or what  kind of cult was it?

Source: Cybele

Cybele was the great Phrygian mother of the gods, a goddess of fertility, motherhood and the mountain wilds. Her orgiastic cult dominated the central and north-western districts of Asia Minor, and was introduced into Greece via the island of Samothrake and the Boiotian town of Thebes.
Cybele was closely associated with a number of Greek goddesses, firstly Rhea, the Greek mother of the gods (Meter Theon), but sometimes also Demeter, Aphrodite and Artemis.
Cybele was portrayed in classical sculpture as a matronly woman with a turret-crown, enthroned and flanked by lions.

In ancient Greece Cybele was called 'Meter Theon', and there were great festivals to celebrate her. These were called: The Orgia (Orgiastic festivals) of the Meter Theon.
These festivals were introduced into Greece from Phrygia via the island of Samothrake. They were closely related to those of Dionysos, whose Phrygian form, Sabazios, was named as a son of the goddess.
The Phrygian Orgia were overseen by eunuch priests called Gallai, who led devotees in nocturnal mountain rites involving much drinking, and frantic dancing accompanied by the music of rattles, kettledrums, flutes and castanets and the ritual cry 'evoe saboe,' 'hyes attes, attes hyes'. Young men armed with shield and sword also performed the high-footed, shield-clashing Korybantic dance. The rites also involved ritual mutilation, ranging from flagellation to the act of self-castration performed by the Gallai priests.

Young Greek man performing the Korybantic Dance

OK ... enough about the background of Mother's Day. It's just a holiday especially for mothers and I think you all know why you are visiting your mother, grandmother, mother in law. Let us try to compose a few haiku on Mother's Day to honor our mothers and grandmothers.

she is the best
mother takes care of me
I cherish her

when I was little
she always sang her lullaby
to scare bad dreams

© Chèvrefeuille

That was it for this “weekend-meditation” prompt Mother's Day. Have a nice Mother's Day and ... well cherish your mom ... she has given birth to you.

This episode, as you all know I think, is open for your submissions next Sunday May 14th at 7:00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until May 19th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Namasté The Spiritual Way #7 New Life (Easter)

!! Open for your submissions Sunday April 16th 7.00 PM (CET) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our "weekend-meditation". This week I have a nice new episode of Namasté, The Spiritual Way. I think it's a nice weekend to have a Namasté episode, because of the fact that it is Easter this Sunday. So that's why I have chosen for the "sub-title" New Life (Easter).

As you all know Easter is the holiday on which we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, it's the end of the so called "Lenten", the period from Ash-Wednesday until Easter. Here in The Netherlands we have already started with the so called Easter period, because yesterday (Thursday April 13th) it was "White Thursday", today it is "Good Friday" and tomorrow it is "Silent Saturday" and than Sunday the day to celebrate that the Lord has risen from the death.

"The Lord Has Risen"

24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ (Luke 24: 1 – 7 NIV)

What does this mean? It brought my thoughts back to our Theme Week about The Tibetan Book of The Living and Dying; and it also brought my thoughts back to our Tarot-month back in 2013. In that Tarot-month we discovered that the Tarot isn't occult, but divine ... and this is what we discovered about the resurrection of humanity:

In the so called "Great Arcana", we find the card titled "Death", it's the 13th card of the "Great Arcana". That card tells us a lot, to much to replay here again, but part of that episode I love to "re-print" here again:

Great Arcana card 13, Death

There is no death.  There is only resurrection.  Live your  life of fulfillment, taking advantage of every opportunity of every moment of every day.  When the miracle of resurrection has passed on, then you are at peace to recognize that things have simply returned to their natural state. 

That is why this card is in the Tarot deck.  It is meant to be embraced.  It is meant to be a gateway to a new birth.  If we can embrace death, then our lives are transformed.  That is the physical realm.  This is also a card of immense spiritual power.  The crucifixion of ego, that we saw in the Hanged Man, can and will become reality.  As that ego dies, we then live in a glorious resurrection.  As we continue to look at the card, we see several important elements.

Death is a secret, death is a darkness which we do not wish to look at nor embrace.  So if we are not going to supplicate death and we're not going to ignore death, what response do we have?  The response of the little child.  Unless we have faith like a little child, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and recognize all truth.  The little child does not seek to turn death into a friend.  The little child does not seek to ask death to go away.  The little child does not turn her eyes and pretend that death is not there.  The little child opens her eyes, sees death in the face, recognizes death as what it is, and has a simple straight forward natural acceptance of this reality.

The disciples were engaged upon the start of the spiritual pathway when they began to understand the resurrection of Jesus.  You must start there to understand the death and resurrection of Jesus.  But as we have said before, Jesus’ death and resurrection are only the beginning, because they are an instruction booklet for you and your personal death and resurrection.  That is the power that enables you to embrace death, look it squarely in the face with the faith of a little child, and rise beyond the human limitations to a glorious and infinite resurrection. (Source: Carpe Diem #199, May 18^th 2013)

 

What does "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying say about this? Well ... let us "jump" back in time and re-read part of the Theme Week about the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, in this part it's about what Tibetans call "Bardo":

The original meaning of bardo is, the space between the moment of dying and reincarnation / rebirth. As we 'dive' deeper into this matter than we discover more than one bardo. Let's go ...

First there is the bardo of living and dying. This is a painful bardo, but also the moment that the nature of spirit / soul becomes real and in a way breaks through the armor of the body. This we can see in, for example, the story of Easter as Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane and asks His Father, God, to take away the cup of poison. Than He is arrested and endures the pain of 39 lashes and the crucifixion. As He dies He commands His Spirit to His Father. This is what we can call the bardo of living and dying.

What follows is the bardo which is called the shining bardo or dharmata, the state of consciousness / mind after death. To explain this shining bardo, wasn't easy, because I could not find something to explain it with. Then I got a revelation. This shining bardo you can see as a bright light, the radiation of the pure nature of spirit / mind. It's a state of pure happiness. In a way this you can see as what is happening as you (someone) has a Near Death Experience (NDE). I ran into a few stories about NDE when I was preparing these episodes. As you read the reports about NDE than everyone sees a bright light in which shadows are moving, ancestors mostly, but angels too.

This shining bardo doesn't stay forever. Sometimes it takes / endures seven days, but it can also take seven weeks.

The next bardo is called the bardo of becoming. The consciousness / mind finds a new place, in a new body and a new life gets started. This we can also see in the story of Easter. After three days, and that’s very fast as we compare this with the Tibetan idea about living and dying, Jesus rises from the grave. He conquered dead and became an enlightened being who walks a short time on this earth and then rises to Heaven making the Holy Spirit, a kind of reborn energy, available to the world. With His resurrection and entering Heaven He broke the Circle of Bardo, as did Buddha.

In Tibetan tradition of bardo the songs from The Book of the Dead were recited by the monks to lead the spirit. Rinpoche goes further in this idea and describes his ideas in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. In his book he sees life as it is as a bardo. The bardo between birth and the moment of dying, life in itself is a transition. It's a time in which we learn, contemplate, meditate and prepare on death. (Source: Carpe Diem Theme Week 1, episode 3; February 17th 2016)

Daffodils

New Life ... the resurrection of the Lord proves that a new life can be established, not by rising from the death, but by finding your path to spiritual growth ... that can bring you New Life too.

Easter is mostly associated with the color yellow and with tulips and daffodils ... and maybe that's correct ... in my opinion, yellow stands for the color of the sun, and the sun gives us new life, new energy ...

Well ... it has become a (to) long episode I think, but it was really a joy to create this episode for you and I hope it will inspire you to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

resurrection
part of my being is dying
finally found myself

the final frontier
to become newly born -
conquering death

© Chèvrefeuille

You can start responding next Sunday April 16th at 7.00 PM (CET). You can respond until April 21st at noon (CET). So you have a whole weekend to meditate and contemplate about this episode of Namasté, the Spiritual Way. I will (try to) publish our new episode, shawl, later next Sunday around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! Don't forget ... Saturday April 15th 10.00 PM (CET) our Summer Retreat 2017 (unconditional) love will start. 30 Days writing haiku and tanka themed "unconditional love" !!

 

 

Carpe Diem Namasté, The Spiritual Way #3 spiritual love based on Zen Buddhism

!! Namasté is open for responses for three days !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem Namasté, the spiritual way, the special feature in which we are exploring the spiritual way, the spiritual background, of haiku (and tanka). Today I love to tell you a little bit about the Zen Buddhism background of haiku.

We all know that haiku has roots in Zen-Buddhism. In Zen-Buddhism the only desire possible is to become enlightened ... does that mean that haiku poets may not have desires? I don't know ... but as I look deep inside myself, in my Higher Self, that pure energy which is our guardian in our life ... than as a haiku poet I have just one desire.
The only desire I have, not to become enlightened, but creating that one masterpiece in which I can read, see, feel and reveal the master, my master Basho, that's my only desire. I am aware of that desire and it's my lifelong goal to once create that masterpiece, maybe I have done that already, but I am not aware of it ...

Be aware of your desires ... don't feel ashamed when you discover your desires ... desires and being aware of them makes you human.

silent prayer
reaches for heaven
sunflowers bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

spiritual love based on Zen Buddhism

I discovered haiku in the late Eighties and I was caught immediately by its beauty. I fell in love with haiku, addicted to the beauty of nature, addicted to love. Haiku, however, wasn't my first love ... my first love was classical music especially the music by J.S.Bach. I played the organ and studied all the works of Bach. Through his music I learned to appreciate beauty.

Later I discovered painting and photographing. While I was busy learning to become a better painter and photographer I ran into haiku ... Haiku at that time gave me the opportunity to train my writing skills, to say more with less words.

What has "real love" to do with haiku? Let me tell you something about love in haiku.

As you all know tanka is more the poetry for love, but in my opinion, haiku is also about love. Love in haiku is universal and that means "haiku transcends everything even the love between people. Haiku is love and we can find that idea in the wonderful spiritual roots of haiku, Zen Buddhism.

Zen is love (real love) of the universe. Without this love, joy is uncertain, pain is inevitable, all is meaningless. Othello says:

[...] "When I love thee not, chaos is come again". [...]

The love must be complete, - not that it aims at the universe as a whole, but that the personality as a whole is to be concentrated on the thing; the thing is to be suffused with the personality. Then we have the state, described abstractly by Dr. Suzuki in the following words:

[...] "When an object is picked up, everything else, One and All, comes along with it, not in the way of suggestion, but all-inclusively, in the sense that the object is complete in itself". [...]

lotus flowers

rising from the depths of the pond

everlasting love

everlasting love

like a river flows onwards

uncertain of its goal

uncertain of its goal

rising from the depths of the pond

lotus flowers

© Chèvrefeuille

The relation of love to poetry may be easy to make out, but that to Zen is much more difficult. Look at it like this ... If we are without self-love, greediness, without desire of gain, of happiness, of life itself, all this energy must overflow somewhere. It overflows into all things, including oneself, so that now no actions are selfish or unselfish, good or bad, but are like the sunshine or the rain, but with mind instead of mindlessness. 

We say that we see the beauty of the fine drops of rain, the glittering of the leaves in the sun, the stars in their calm, - but what we really see is the mind of man, our own mind, in all these things. Through our activity and cooperation, these inanimate things acquire mind and affection. The waves drown the shipwrecked sailor regretfully, the sun scorches the weary traveler with remorse.

This kind of love, then, is not the means, the first step, but the end and aim and consummation of our pilgrimage here (on this world). It is expressed in quite other ways than altruism and self-denial. It is effortless and continuous, unconscious and nameless, but we feel it and know it ourselves and others as the health of the soul.

Namasté

Love is the only energy capable to bring peace to the world. The love for the tiniest things in nature are making us the haiku poets we are. We are all lovers of nature and that love is rooted in the Zen Buddhism background of haiku.

shepherd’s purse

trembles in the summer breeze -

bees seek for honey

© Chèvrefeuille

Well .... I hope you did like this new Namasté episode and I hope it will inspire you to create haiku and tanka in which we can find that spiritual love based on Zen Buddhism and our love for nature.

Namasté

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 10.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 20th at 10.00 PM (CET). Have fun. 

Carpe Diem Namasté the Spiritual Way #2 pilgrimage

!! For this special feature you have three days to respond, instead of five as the regular prompts !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last week I started with Namasté, the spiritual way, a new feature here at CDHK in which I love to explore the spiritual side of haiku and tanka. As you all know one of the classical rules of haiku is that there has to be in some way a deeper meaning in haiku (and tanka). That deeper meaning is mostly based on Zen Buddhism, but in my opinion it's not necessary to bring that Zen Buddhism into your haiku, it can also be a Hindu meaning, a Christian or Muslim meaning, because I think that haiku has no boundaries towards religions and spiritual beliefs. In my opinion all religions and spiritual beliefs are One ... There are a lot of similarities between religions and spiritual beliefs and in my opinion we are all in a way part of God, Great Spirit, Higher Self or what ever name you give it.
Being part of God, made of "god-stuff" as I explained last week in the first episode of "Namasté", makes us one.

Last month we were on a pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela, but that wasn't our first pilgrimage here. Back in 2014 we were on a pilgrimage straight through the former USSR with the Trans Siberian Rail Road and we went on a pilgrimage along the 88 temples on Shikoku Island, see also our regular episode of today, and I hope to do another (virtual) pilgrimage later this year.

This episode of "Namasté" is titled pilgrimage and I think that it fits the "Namasté" theme, because we saw what Namasté menas last week.
This week I love to go on an inner pilgrimage, I am not going to explain how our body works, we are not going to visit or intestines ...

Inner Pilgrimage

 The above image I have found on a wonderful website named "Creative Pilgrimage"  and I think that's what we are doing as haiku and tanka poets we are on a creative pilgrimage. We are on our way to our Inner Self, as the inside of a shell. We encounter a scene, a short moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water and that brings us to the final frontier ... the haiku or tanka to create.

Fredrick Franck, a philosopher, writer, painter and renown as "The Renaissance Man" and a fellow Dutchman, has once said:

[...] “That I speak here of art as a Way, gives away that I see the way of the artist as a kind of pilgrimage. When you go on a pilgrimage, you set out from where you happen to be and start walking toward a place of great sanctity in the hope of returning from it renewed, enriched and sanctified. However far you may walk, every pilgrimage is a safari into your own dark interior, an inner journey.” [...]

Franck said "The meaning of life is to see" with that he was the founder of what I love to call "the Inner Pilgrimage". His bestselling book about his ideas is titled "The Zen of Seeing".

To bring this idea back to haiku (and tanka). As I stated, and as the classical rules tell us, there has to be a spiritual meaning in your haiku (or tanka) and our haiku are based on what we see ... that tiny little moment that surprises us catches us and makes us emotional and devote ... the only thing we can do is bowing our head in silent adoration, admiration or how you love to call it.

The challenge for this week's episode of "Namasté" is to look around you with the eyes of Zen and try to catch the beauty of that moment ... 

in the puddle
the fragile beauty of clouds
a broken rose

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this episode of "Namasté" and I hope that I have inspired you to create haiku or tanka ... Go with me on an Inner Pilgrimage ... explore the Zen of Seeing.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 14th 10.00 PM (CET)

Carpe Diem Namasté, the spiritual way #1 Introduction to a new feature

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is my pleasure to present a new special feature here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As you all know, haiku is not only the poetry of nature "an sich", but also the poetry of the spiritual nature. Haiku has its roots in Zen Buddhism, but also in Shinto, the official religion of Japan. In this new feature, Carpe Diem Namasté, the spiritual way, I love to explore that spiritual background of our beloved haiku. I hope to create this new feature every week as the start of the weekend, so it will be published every Friday evening around 10.00 PM (CET).

Namasté, I use it very often here at CDHK and all other parts of our CDHK family, e.g. Facebook, Tumblr and Wordpress, but what does it really mean?
Namasté is a Hindu holy greeting from one human being to another. It's always said with a gesture. The gesture you will maybe know. Both hands against each other fingers pointing to the sky, the Cosmos, to God; you close your eyes and bend your head a little towards your heart. Why do you have to close your eyes? Well ... every being is the same, notwithstanding race, color or physics, we are all the same.

Namasté

Maybe you can remember our Tarot-month back in 2013 (you can download the CDHK e-book Tarot in our library) in one of the episodes of that month, The Emperor, I talk about "God stuff", because before the Creation there was nothing only God and He used "God stuff" to create our world and us, so that means we are all part of God.
Now we can go back to Namasté, because what does it mean? Sometimes it is explained as "I greet the light in you", but I love to use Namasté because of its other meaning. That other meaning is: "The Divine in me bows before the Divine in you". I love that it's more my way of thinking and living. In everyone and everything I see God, Higher Self, Buddha or whatever name you would love use.
Namasté you can compare with the South German greeting "Grüss Gott!"

As you say Namasté you bow your head, in our Western culture we are not used to bowing, but bowing your head has nothing to do with submissiveness, the other is not superior, we are all the same. Bowing means "being equal" and being a part of God, as we all are. Bowing means "we are one", we are equal.
Both hands together, a gesture we all know, because both hands together is equal with praying, it's a very old gesture. Both hands together means also "I bring Sun and Moon together (the right hand means "Sun" and the left hand means "Moon") or "heaven and earth", you can also see this as "as is above, so is below", which we have seen here often at CDHK. It even is a haiku writing technique and we saw it often in our Tarot month.

Namasté

Your hands have a deeper spiritual meaning, they are synonymous with the Cosmos, even all separated fingers do have a meaning:

The thumb: emptiness and insight
The index: air and activity
The middle finger: fire and perception
The annulary: water and sensibility / receptivity
The little finger: earth and form

As you use the Namasté gesture than you bring your hands at the height of your heart, at the heart-chakra, the place were divine love enters. So another meaning of Namasté can be: "I honor the space in you (your heart) where love, truth, light and peace are ruling".

Over all you can say with Namasté "Your mind is not your boss it's your heart that has that authority".

Namasté gesture in words:

- both hands together, fingers pointing upward:
- close your eyes;
- bring your hands to your heart, or as sometimes seen, bring your hands first to your forehead (the Third Eye) and than to your heart.



Namasté

Namasté "I look at you with my inner eye, with my heart, the divine in me bows before the divine in you"

Isn't it wonderful? So much meaning in one gracious gesture? Isn't that what we hope to accomplish with our passion? Our haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry-form? Haiku needs a little bit of "God stuff", a little bit of "Namasté", a little bit of spirituality.

That's the goal of this new special feature "Carpe Diem Namasté, the spiritual way", try to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with a deeper, spiritual, meaning.

This first introductory episode of this new special feature here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is NOW OPEN for your submissions. You can submit until Monday February 6th 10.00 PM (CET). I will publish a new episode of "Namasté, the spiritual way" on Friday February 10th around 10.00 PM (CET). Have fun!