I was writing a haiku and my haiku went from the world/senses to the abstract while the famous haikus go from wide scene to specific individual sensory impression.
This of the famous frog one, translated here by Alan Watts:
The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!
I was thinking of the research suggesting that those from the East tend to see Gestalt; those in the West tend to see detail or actor/protagonist. And I thought, huh, but the haiku draws you from Gestalt to just that precise figure. That’s weird. Then I thought how our philosophy starts with things and tries to make a generality, a universal - like my haiku. So we see individual and then try to make it part of a law or whatever. But the haiku says, world! Beautiful woodland… a bird’s eye sparkles… it goes the other way. A reverse philosophy… and I thought, well, I guess that’s what I am trying to do when I do these presentations about animals… I'm saying, look - ideas! theories! texts! natural world! ecology! Then, this robin sings. This family of badgers are grooming. These orcas are grieving.
Anyway, here is my haiku sequence:
Above, long-tailed tits chitter
and whistle. Listen!
A crown of glittering sound.
Wind - invisible creature,
clattering branches.
Trees chime in cascades of gold.
What does it mean? This feeding?
This falling? Always
the world is living and dying.
Excellent!