Haiku Ellipses...Invitation...Response...

  2BE 2DO 1st there is 2BE Then there is meditation Last there is 2DO I like to play with numbers and words as in 2b, 2know, 2do, 2u, etc...out of this play came the ideas of 2BE and 2DO , fitting into a sequence marked by contemplation and action. Richard Rhor founded the Center for Action and Contemplation, prioritizing action over contemplation, but in this haiku, i highlight the opposite, prioritizing contemplation before action, that is, the contemplation/meditation informs our action in the world. Thus, first there is the state of being, followed by meditation, ending in doing. The practical implication for me is that each day i begin with prayer and meditation, dropping into the center of BEING . Next, i review my priorities for the day, making sure that i balance my needs/goals with others, realizing that this is a plan, that things rarely go exactly according to plan, that flexibility and adjustments will need to be made in the lived moments that make up a day. With the pl...

KOI POND   Below the surface of the little backyard pond Fish playing with light A very quick sketch of our backyard koi pond was inspired by the sparkles of light i saw bouncing off the fish below the surface of the pond. What is this miracle of light? The sunshine bouncing off the fish as they meander through the wetness, or is it better thought of as fish "playing with light"? Of course, it's BOTH! As we look deeper into things using the contemplative gaze, the long, loving, leisurely, look at the real that William Mac Namara writes about in his book, The Human Adventure: The Art of Contemplative Living, we perceive below and allow our gaze to penetrate into things "below the surface of the koi pond ." Whatever we see is REAL, and all perspectives are welcome, we embracing everything in our both/and contemplative gaze. 

  EJACULATION growing waves coming slowly at 1st then building ejaculation Biologically, we tend to think of ejaculation as the physiological release of sperm (and other fluids) by a male into a female during sexual intercourse as part of the reproductive process to continue the species, but i like to think of ejaculation in a much broader sense. In this haiku, ejaculation refers to ideas that grow, often slowing, on the back burner, over time, building, gaining momentum, and eventually spilling out into some creative art such as music, poetry, painting, and journaling. This kind of ejaculation knows no gender but does have sexual overtones. The process calls for skills in caressing, enticing, and loving into being. Both men and women can experience this kind of ejaculation . I find that journaling, and other kinds of writing like poetry, stories, blogging, words on  "post it" notes, helps me catch ideas percolating in my mind, opening up a space for them to eventually b...

  EXPANSION & CONTRACTION From the 2 come 8 Expansion & Contraction Joining Together The "2" is 2 overlapping squares with the 2nd square placed at a 45 degree angle atop the first square--see upper left figure in image below. The place where the edges of the squares meet (the red tips) are pointing outward, thus the idea of EXPANSION .  Let the tips fade into the background, and sharpen the focus on the areas within the two squares, finding an 8 sided octagon (the blue shape near the center of the image below). If the 4 red points from the original two squares are made into smaller squares, there emerges red arrows that point inward toward the center (see 2nd figure on top row with the red arrows in the image below). Both the octagon within the square and the inward pointed red arrows show the idea of CONTRACTION .  When the squares and octagon, the 2 & 8, merge, as in the colored figure at the bottom right below, we see JOINING. The squares are still ther...

  Star Being & 4 Masked Men Centered Star Being Surrounded by 4 Masked Men Integrationing Inspired by the hexad in chapter 6 of Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe by Michael Schneider (see blog of 3 x 5's for 1/1/2022), the diamond shape at the center took shape first and reminds me of a person. Since this shape resembles a star, i called it the " Star Being " in the haiku. The 4 parts that intersect in the center of the Star Being and move outward, splitting the 4 cardinal directions, are created next, reminding me of African masks that i saw that in the safari section of the Zoo cafeteria in Norfolk, Virginia in the early post 2000 years...distinctly male energy. These male energies appear to penetrate and intermingle with the Star Being , hence the final line of the haiku that ends with a new word that i coin here (i could not find the word in a google search on 1/1/2022): INTEGRATIONING , signaling the active process of combining energies to birth...