Mists rise from the lake,
obscuring unconscious depths.
Deep water endures.
This Haiku reflects the symbolism of the lake, with the depths of the unconscious obscured by the 'mists' of surface conscious thoughts. This type of symbolism runs through eastern philosophies and is most famously expressed in the Tao Te Ching. Carl Jung also wrote about symbolism in relation to our dreams, and how these archetypal landscapes of thought inform the mechanism of our human conciousness:
Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious. The lake in the valley is the unconscious, which lies, as it were, underneath consciousness, so that it is often referred to as the “subconscious,” usually with the pejorative connotation of an inferior consciousness.
Water is the “valley spirit,” the water dragon of Tao, whose nature resembles water- a yang in the yin, therefore, water means spirit that has become unconscious.
Carl Jung, from Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious
I find that both lakes and the sea crop up in my dream-scape often. Usually there is some type of crisis point when entering these water bodies. If the dream is a scuba diving dream the equipment often malfunctions, leaving me gasping for air. Ha ha, I'm not sure how to interpret these themes that run through my dreams, but one thing is common to these dreams, I'm always eager to dive into the depths. I choose to see this as an indication of my desire to explore inner landscapes, to piece together the puzzle of imagery and story. These are some of the insights that arose while writing the haiku in response to this picture. I hope that this Haiku reflected the traditional Japanese feel for what makes the form great:
Haiku poetry traditionally discusses abstract subjects or those from the natural world, including seasons, months, animals, and even the smallest elements of nature, down to a blade of grass or a drop of dew. While a haiku does not have to cover natural subjects anymore, it is most often used as a celebration of nature.
The Academy of American Poets asserts, "As the form evolved, many of the rules - including the 5-7-5 practice - have routinely been broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination."
Reference from - Rules for Writing Haiku
This is day eighteen of my month long challenge - from the 06th of August until the 06th of September - to post a daily Haiku on steem. Each week will have a different theme based on picture prompts from either Pixabay.com or Unsplash.com. This week's broad theme is traditional haiku..
I have created a new tag #monthofhaiku. If anyone wants to replicate the challenge please feel free, I will check the tag occasionally and try to curate the better Haiku. However, this is not meant to be a challenge to the writers' community. I have an extremely busy month ahead, and I started this as a personal challenge so that I didn't drift away from posting on steem. Please, forgive me if I'm slow to respond to comments or am not around on discord, I have had to reassess my priorities over the last few weeks.
The picture used in this post is creative commons, linked below pic. If you have enjoyed this Haiku, please check out my homepage 
