Although alluded to in less detail (below), the following response to a friend’s query as to “Why haiku?” is offered for the additional insight it might provide:

 

(1) First, because I had stopped writing anything but prose and open letters by 1997, and felt called to explore new ways of expressing the Truth I had been graced to receive during 30 plus years of searching. In this regard, and having once read a small book of Japanese haiku belonging to my mother, it occurred to me that haiku might just be the alternative mode of expression I was seeking. I was not wrong.

 

(2) Secondly, because I discovered that writing haiku was a wonderful way of distilling ideas to their essence, clarifying related insights and fine-tuning conceptual understanding. I also found haiku’s potential to evoke an immediate experience in another quite extraordinary. As such, its potential fidelity as a means of interpersonal communication is unparalleled in my experience.

 

(3) Thirdly, because haiku does an outstanding job of achieving the objective the following metaphor attempts to describe:

 

Coin Balancing: Although we can not fully define an absolute state in relative terms, we can use analogies, metaphors and similes in an attempt to evoke or recall a direct sense or perception of that state. Thus, if I have an experience I wish to share, I can use a metaphor to indicate what it felt like with the hope of evoking a similar feeling in another. This is the verbal equivalent of having someone balance a coin to convey what balance feels like. This is because balance, as an absolute or non-relative state, cannot be captured in words, yet can be known as a direct experience. Thus, by moving a coin back and forth through its balance point, while progressively reducing said movements, one may get a feel for almost balanced. Then, suddenly, as the coin comes to rest, perhaps a direct sense of balance, as a non-relative state, may be experienced.

 

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