Kintsugi and Wabi-Sabi

Kintsugi and Wabi-Sabi are concepts whose meaning I find very inspiring.

Right from the start: I have no “real” knowledge or experience of Buddhism, Shintoism, Eastern philosophy, or Japan.

We, the so-called enlightened

But I do have experience with how we deal with mistakes here, in our culture. With flaws. With what is broken. Or with those who are broken.

We love perfection. We all do.

We celebrate high art, the beautiful and the complete. The deeper meaning and the higher purpose.
The clear form. The straight seam and the sharp edge.
The good ideas. Our culture.
Ourselves—as long as we are everything we’re supposed to be.
I suspect the phrase “Others can do it too!” costs more lives than cars and cigarettes combined.

Everything that doesn’t measure up is considered inadequate. Like in school. Inadequate! Insufficient! Sit down! F!
Grit your teeth and push through! Or crash into the wall!

What breaks and has flaws must go. It needs to be hidden.
So no one notices the dent in the dish or the crack in the mind—the one that, perhaps (Shh! Don’t tell anyone!) others have too.

There’s another way!

I was shaking with joy when I read these concepts, Kintsugi and Wabi-Sabi, along with an interpretation of them.

Not the obvious beauty, but the hidden one.
The beauty that isn’t cheap, but requires willingness to be seen.

Wabi-Sabi. Honoring the imperfect. The crooked and the askew.
The value in itself.

Kintsugi. Repairing, healing what is broken, not discarding it.
Highlighting the healing, not hiding it.
Valuing the break and its overcoming.
Understanding the seam as part of the whole. As part of a story. A journey.

Everything has its value. And that value increases with every obstacle, with every trace that life and time leave behind.