Dec. 9

Wabi-sabi

I’m not a religious person in any traditional sense, but the Wabi-sabi belief that there is good or beauty in an imperfect or damaged commodity comes close to my feelings about life.  This concept is current in Japan, although I don’t know how high its level of popular acceptance.

All of us are a “damaged commodity” to some extent and for those of us with Parkinson’s it is frequently obvious.  While I may work to avoid or delay medical problems I understand that the final outcomes are not up to me.  Wabi-sabi is the acceptance of reality.  An example might be, a person driving in heavy traffic and who is angry and impatient with other drivers.  A Wabi-sabi comment could be: “You are driving in busy city traffic, what did you expect?”

 

(My source has been the internet, but confirmed by friends in Japan.)  Wabi-sabi (侘寂^?) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".^[1] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin^?), specifically impermanence (無常, mujō^?), the other two being suffering (苦, ku^?) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空, kū^?).

Other interpretations:

 
Wisdom in natural simplicity

The aspect of imperfect reality

Flawed beauty

Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, nothing is permanent.

 

Wabi-sabi:  A way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.

I’m trying.