No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening.
– Matsuo Bashō
sepia sails
brush strokes against yesterdays
alone on the sea
This Utabukuro goal from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is to share a favorite haiku and create an all new one inspired on your favorite.
A lesson from Kristjaan at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai – writing haiku using Basho’s haiku as a template to work from.
For this challenge I have chosen a haiku, you all certainly know, written by Basho (1644-1694).
furu ike ya / kawazu tobi komu / mizu no oto
old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
the rough sea
flowing toward Sado Isle
the River of Heaven
© Basho
taunted by the storm
strong undertow is man’s device
seeking to be free
Sharing this haiku with Carpe Diem Haiku Kai
Painting credit: Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky ( 29 July 1817 – 2 May 1900) was a Russian Romantic painter. He is considered one of the greatest marine artists in history. Born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia and was mostly based in his native Crimea.
eda moroshi hi toshi yaburu aki no kaze
fragile twigs
breaking off the scarlet papers
autumn winds
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
‘Toshi’ refers to a very fragile paper made in China. The idea of the poem was that even a fragile twig could tear the paper or the twigs were too fragile to hold on to the Autumn leaves.
I think of an old book
had been read for many ages
so aged, yellow and ripped
as I turned the pages
the words I embraced
for a final time they were read
final dust in my fingertips
A tree long ago
autumn winds flurry through text
words fragile as twigs
Fragile Twigs – a fine prompt from Kristjaan at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai
Inspired by Basho:
since the cherry blossoms
I’ve waited three months to see
the twin-trunk pine
memories spill over
cherry blossoms line the path
counting the days
*
cherry daydreams
soft pink decorates the sky
never sated
Photography: Moondust Designs 2015
This episode of Carpe Diem Haiku “Since Cherry Blossoms” is a reminder that they will return.
shaded by blossoms
it is like song in a play
resting on a journey
© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)
rays burst in music
blossoms lite on sleepy lashes
spring notes are pink
The prompt from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is Shaded by Blossoms
hana ni uzumorete yume yori sugu ni shinan kana
covered with cherry blossoms
if I could die right now
in this dream of mine
© Ochi Etsujin (Tr. Gabi Greve)
Etsujin was a traveling companion and disciple of Basho. At Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we are celebrating (this month) the work of Basho and those he inspired.
Floating from heaven
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The mindset in postmodernism is that objective truth does not exist. But in post-truth, the person believes that objective truth exists, but they subordinate truth to their preferences, or their comfort. In other words, one doesn’t care that truth exists or what the truth is if it doesn’t line up with one’s preferences. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" - George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. Faith in Jesus Christ is our response to God's elective purpose in our life. These two truths--God's initiative and man's response--co-exist throughout the Bible. The gospel is "the message of truth" because truth is its predominant characteristic. Salvation was conceived by the God of truth (Ps. 31:5); purchased by the Son, who is the truth (John 14:6); and is applied by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). To know it is to know the truth that sets men free (John 8:32). Believers are people of the truth (John 18:37), who worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), and who obey the Word of truth (John 17:17). People have rejected, neglected, redefined, and opposed God’s truth for centuries. Some cynically deny that truth even exists or that it can be known by men (John 18:38). Others foolishly think that denying truth will somehow make it go away. Truth determines the validity of one's belief. Believing a lie doesn't make it true. Conversely, failing to believe the truth doesn't make it a lie. The gospel is true because Jesus is true, not simply because Christians believe in Him. His resurrection proved the truth of His claims and constitutes the objective basis of our faith (Rom. 1:4; 1 Pet. 1:3). Truth is our protection and strength (Eph. 6:14). Throughout history, people have tried everything imaginable to gain favor with God. Most turn to religion, but religion apart from Christ is merely a satanic counterfeit of the truth. At the heart of every false religion is the notion that man can come to God by any means he chooses--by meditating, doing good deeds, and so on. But Scripture says, "There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That name is Jesus Christ, and we come to Him by confessing and repenting of our sin, trusting in His atoning death on the cross, and affirming His bodily resurrection from the grave (cf. Rom. 10:9-10). There is no other way to God. False religious leaders and teachers talk much about God’s love, but not His wrath and holiness; much about how deprived of good things people are, but not about their depravity; much about God’s universal fatherhood toward everyone, but not much about his unique fatherhood toward all who believe in His Son; much about what God wants to give to us, but nothing about the necessity of obedience to Him; much about health and happiness, but nothing about holiness and sacrifice. Their message is full of gaps, the greatest of which leaves out a biblical worldview of the saving gospel and replaces it with the worldview of postmodernism with its dominant ethical system of relativism. The Bible describes mankind in the end times: “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). Spiritual answers cannot be deduced by human reason alone (1 Cor. 2:14). It’s not that spiritual truth is irrational or illogical, but that human wisdom is defective, because it’s tainted by man’s sinfulness, and unable to perceive the things of God. That is why the Bible is so important. It gives us the answers we can’t find on our own. It is God’s Word to mankind. Scripture is divinely revealed truth that fills the vacuum of spiritual ignorance in all of us. Post-truth is the word of the year for 2016 and also the philosophy of the day, According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. In a “post-truth” world, people make choices based on emotion and experience rather than objective fact. So in a post-truth world, truth is irrelevant. What exactly is a post-truth culture? It’s a culture where truth is no longer an objective reality. It has become subjective. It’s what’s true for me—my beliefs, my opinions, determine my truth. So in our post-truth culture, man determines truth. Man makes himself the ultimate authority. This starting point, which rejects God’s Word and the idea of moral absolutes, makes truth subjective. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Christianity is grounded in objective truth. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Objective truth exists because we have God’s Word. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Thy word is truth” (John 17:17), and Paul and James describe the Bible as “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15; James 1:18). The Psalmist says, “The entirety of your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Jesus Himself said, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). When Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6), He wasn’t expressing His personal belief or opinion. He was speaking the truth, a fundamental reality that doesn’t change from person to person. It doesn’t matter if our culture thinks all roads lead to God. The truth of the matter is “no one comes to the Father but by [Jesus].” This blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." - George Orwell
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