Life is Wabi-Sabi

I can probably speak for most of humanity by saying that I would love it if everything were perfect. I would love it if people never got sick, suffered, or died. I would love it if everyone had enough food, clothing, and shelter. I would love it if everyone treated one another with kindness and deep respect. I would love it if things didn't break down and need repair. I'm pretty sure we would all love such a utopia.

But alas, that's more a description of the afterlife than of our reality. Our world is much tougher to navigate, much rougher around the edges (as well as in the center). Which got me thinking about wabi-sabi...

In its simplest form, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection, incomplete, and impermanent. It embraces the profundity in nature, and of embracing the natural cycle of birth, growth, decay, and death. It tends to be simple, slow, and uncluttered. And it reveres authenticity above all. Wabi-sabi is much more the idea of a flea market, rather than a warehouse store; more about aged wood than Pergo; hand-made paper over glass. It celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. It reminds us that we are all simply transient beings on this planet and that our bodies as well as the material world around us are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent. Wabi-sabi doesn't simply accept these things as the inevitabilities of life, but embrace them as true badges of honor of a life fully lived.

I've had a long history of being an all-or-nothing type of person. If I can't do something perfectly, why bother at all, I used to think. Thanks to God for helping me mature and realize that living a "perfect" life is quite literally impossible. Sure, striving to do one's best is very important, but equally important is not beating oneself up for not reaching "perfect," as only God can be such. Life is a perpetual battle between being knocked down, and dusting oneself off. As Confucius put it:


"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."


May God continue to give us all the strength to do so. Yes, life can be agonizingly painful and difficult, but turning to God gives one the hope that getting up again after we do fall will be well worth it.