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Reading the excellent articles (11/3) by Brian, Stanley and Martin, I was constantly reminded of a matter dealt with in East-West spiritual traditions & confirmed by recent psycho-therapeutic practice.

Thomas Merton speaks for East and West - ‘There is a silent self within us whose presence is disturbing precisely because it is so silent: it can’t be spoken. It has to remain silent. To articulate it, to verbalise it, is to tamper with it, and in some way to destroy it.’ (On ‘creative silence’ in Love & Living)

Donald Winnicott, eminent psychotherapist, confirms - ‘At the centre of each person is an incommunicado element, & this is sacred & most worthy of preservation. This self is permanently non-communicating.’ (From papers published in The Maturational Processes & the Facilitating Environment, The Hogarth Press 1965, new edition by Karnac Books)

Linked with these thoughts, I have recently been reading Chiyo-ni (Woman Haiku Master) (Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi - Tuttle Publishing ISBN 0-8048-2053-8) and came across this item:-

THE HEALING POWER OF HAIKU

In Japan there are many beliefs in the power of poetry - Chiyo-ni’s included. Words are believed to have spirit or power, as in the word kototama (koto, ‘word’; tama, ‘spirit’), for the language of the gods and goddesses. And originally, as in most cultures, Japanese poetry in ancient times was religious incantation. As noted previously, tanka poetry, the precursor to haiku, evolved from shaman chants believed to have the power to move the gods and demons. In the Edo period and even today haiku poets have maintained that haiku has unusual healing powers and helps to prolong life.

There are several stories about the powers invested in Chiyo-ni’s haiku. According to one, the governor of Kaga had heard about Chivo-ni’s fame and once asked her to write haiku as gifts for some Korean envoys. Later, when he needed her to revive his garden’s most beautiful cherry tree, which was ailing, he invited her to the palace. There she spontaneously composed this haiku:-

spring will come again -
   without flowers
   you’ll be firewood

To no one’s surprise, the tree began to bloom again.

A student of two of Bashō’s disciples, Chiyo-ni’s dates are 1703-1775.

Has this anything to say to us, haiku-makers? Any views about the healing power of haiku both as readers and writers?