Imperfection

    When John Legend sings about ‘all your perfect imperfections’ in his song ‘All of Me’, he is unknowingly drawing on the Japanese philosophical practice of wabi-sabi. Richard Powell, a wabi-sabi scholar, says this perspective on life acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. The spirit of wabi-sabi is made visible in the beautiful Japanese art of kintsugi, where the cracks in old pottery are filled with gold-dusted lacquer to highlight, rather than hide, its imperfections. As the incomparable Leonard Cohen noted: there is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.

    — Wayne Visser

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    From Purpose Inspired: Reflections on Conscious Living, Volume 3. Buy on Lulu ↗