I remember clearly the first time I heard the word wabi-sabi. I was fifteen years ago live in a Japanese TV. Although I was very nervous, during the first part of the interview I answered with fluent Japanese but then the TV announcer asked me: “What do you think about wabi-sabi?”. I had no idea what wabi-sabi meant and it was live TV, I could not search the meaning in my phone. After a brief awkward pause I answered something totally unrelated, and it was obvious that I did not understand the question.
The shame I felt embarked me in adventure of studying and learning about wabi-sabi and Japanese aesthetics in general that is continues to this day. I can say confidently that wabi-sabi it is one of the top things I have learned from the Japanese people and it has had a powerful effect on who I am as a person and my world view.
After the TV show I asked all my Japanese friends, my coworkers, my girlfriend, all the new people I me: What is wabi-sabi? What do you think about wabi-sabi? What is sabi-sabi for you? After a while I realized that nobody was giving me the same answer. But all of their answers had some common essence: life and the universe we live in is all about the imperfection and impermanence of all things.
Soon I realized that wabi-sabi was more than aesthetics. It was about life and the universe. It was about the ephemeral nature of all things and learning to accept it. Wabi-sabi is an invisible texture that interconnects Japanese art, lifestyle, architecture, history, philosophy, religions and even Japanese thought, society behaviour and mindset.
Western thought, and more specifically, modernity, pushes all of us to think that there is an ultimate perfect goal in all things we do that will lead us to success and happiness. But if you think it deeply, perfection does not even exist, it is only in the realm of our human imagination (And mathematics maybe).
Wabi-sabi is reality.
Perfection does not exist.
After being bathed in the wisdom of wabi-sabi I started seen Japan through different eyes. I noticed that I started looking and Japanese bowls with fascination instead of apathy like my younger self did. I was also enjoying and admiring more its gardens, poetry, pottery, ikebana and architecture. And this effect was not only for Japan, when I was traveling back to Europe I noticed that I had a renewed interest in all types of art.
In retrospect I realized something funny, I didn’t have to feel ashamed with my answer on TV, because wabi-sabi can’t really be explained.
This book does not pretend to explain wabi-sabi, but it will make you dive into the world of wabi-sabi and will change forever the way you think of not only of Japan but also about the world we live in.
After reading this book I notice wabi-sabi everywhere, in my day to day life, while working and interacting with other people, when I’m walking in nature or in a city. I’m also more aware of the pain of people trying to fight against wabi-sabi, I see them trying to perfect their lives, getting “better” jobs, “better” houses, improving to have “better” routines, “better” health, and “better” everything… aiming to have a perfect life? that it does not even exist to begin with?
Wabi-sabi is about learning to be OK with whatever it is that we are and we have at the moment. And move from there, not aiming to be perfect, but aiming to be what we really are, embrace your imperfections to make them beautiful. embrace the worlds imperfections to make a more beautiful world all together.
I didn’t do this or that, I did not achive this or that, and we feel bad about ourselves, we feel insufficient. We are not, we are beautiful beings the goals have been put upside down in current modern society.
Certainly I know more now about wabi-sabi than when I went to live TV show fifteen years ago. But I can also say that the more you know about wabi-sabi the deeper it gets and I will never get tired of it.
This book is a beautiful exploration that goes from the basics of wabi-sabi to its deeper meaning in all its facets. It helped me to apreciate even more wabi-sabi and embraced me to have a more wabi-sabi mindset on how to live my life.
It is ok to be imperfect, because the imperfect is beautiful.