Wabi-Sabi
Acceptance of transience and imperfection
Welcome all.
I reread Leonard Koren’s book about his interpretation of Wabi-Sabi. This has been the closest ‘ideal’ to how I think and work. What is it actually? It’s an abstract multi-layered concept, from Japan. Wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world-view centered (a brand of value theory?) on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic conclusion is beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature.
Wabi refers to
- a way of life, a spiritual path
- the inward, the subjective
- a philosophical construct
- spatial events
Sabi refers to
- material objects, art and literature
- the outward, the objective
- an aesthetic ideal
- temporal events
“Originally, the Japanese words "wabi" and "sabi" had quite different meanings. "Sabi" originally meant chill, lean, or withered. "Wabi" originally meant the misery of living alone in nature, away from society, and suggested a discouraged, dispirited, cheerless emotional state. Around the 14th century, the meanings of both words began to evolve in the direction of more positive aesthetic values. The self-imposed isolation and voluntary poverty of the hermit and ascetic came to be considered opportunities for spiritual richness. For the poetically inclined, this kind of life fostered an appreciation of the minor details of everyday life and insights into the beauty of the inconspicuous and overlooked aspects of nature. In turn, unprepossessing simplicity took on new meaning as the basis for a new, pure beauty.”
A few take-aways and further personal thoughts from reading it this time
1. I have no idea why, but the idea of words, truths and concepts evolving together really struck me. Societal meanings of words/thoughts evolved from negative to positive.
2. Acceptance of the inevitable and appreciation of the cosmic order. All things are impermanent, imperfect and incomplete.
3. Radical acceptance of my and others imperfection
4. Getting rid of the unnecessary. Treading lightly on the planet (freedom of things) and knowing how to appreciate whatever is encountered, whenever it is encountered while holding judgement.
5. Know when to make choices and when to not, similar to Taoism, which I have been reading/thinking about this year.
6. Aesthetics and philosophy intertwined. Modernism adapted Wabi-Sabi but they are opposed to one another in most ways.
There is so much that I can’t understand and comprehend bc I am a Westerner that didn’t grow up on Buddhism in Japan. I enjoy that so many disparate ideas all are wrapped up in one concept and get the feeling like it’s about a way of life/thought (opposed to western life) and less about an aesthetic – a world view of being happy with whatever you have, who you are, making others happy, the smallness of things, relativity, change, silence, aging, imperfection, etc. and less about aesthetics. The aesthetics, and everything we do, come from how we think and view the world.
Music Vid/Package Design
Eric Timothy Carlson released his new video and package design for GRRL x Made of Oak and it’s wild. The package design is almost more wild. Excellent use of my OCR-124 typeface. He also redid his website recently and a great use of your time.