Dear friends and acquaintances

This summer we held our retreats in Mols Bjerge at Rødegaard, which is home to several initiatives around sustainability and surrounded by a permaculture garden that was in full bloom throughout the retreat summer.

As I write this to you, we are wrapping up our annual ten-day retreat at Øster Løkke by the North Sea, in a completely different and harsher nature, characterized by wildness and openness. Where the sunflowers grew tall as small trees on Mols, the flowers out here cling to places where they can find nourishment. One of them has taken root in a crack in a rusty tractor trailer.

The two ways of growing have their own poetry for me. Sometimes you can indulge in abundance. Other times you are nourished by barren conditions and frugality.

And speaking of poetry, with this letter you will receive a new guide in the practice library: 

Everyday haiku.

Haiku is a Japanese poetic form that captures a moment in just a few words, often based on nature and the things closest to us. In the guided tour, Peter takes us into the poetry of everyday life and shows how a creative glimpse can also become a practice in presence.

Two of my favorite haiku are by the Japanese poet and Zen nun Chiyo-ni:

The first could almost have been written here by the North Sea. It wasn't – it was written in Japan in the 18th century:
 

The sky's lark
what do you think
about the infinite expanse?
 

And then this subtle haiku, which perhaps touches on the old Taoist tale about whether you dream that you are a butterfly, or the butterfly dreams that it is you:
 

A floating dandelion seed
disturbs now and then
the butterfly's dream
 

Following on from this summer's intense writing retreat, where we didn't have room for everyone who applied, we have added an extra writing retreat here at Øster Løkke on October 5th – 11th. We still have some vacancies here. A warm welcome.

And with these words and images, we send a late summer greeting here from the North Sea – with gratitude for both the lushness and the places where small miracles find a way to grow despite resistance.
 

Many warm greetings
on behalf of the Kontemplation team, 

Hanneli