The Way to Wabi-sabi

 

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese world view, originally derived from Buddhist teachings on the natural transience and inherent imperfection of all things.  It honors and even celebrates that imperfection, by finding the beauty in it.  Thus, a 400 year-old cracked and visibly repaired tea bowl is not only seen as having beauty, but even more beauty than a ‘perfectly’ formed new bowl, because the older one has its lifetime of stories to share.

We’re big on wabi-sabi here at The Cup.  And we think it’s a concept that more Americans would also appreciate and even ‘American-ize’.  The REAL people, with real lives, that crack their personal bowls.  We celebrate all those lives, and wonder if the American spirit isn’t drowning in too much perfection.  The one-dimensional bios.  The perfect bodies.  The perfect faces.  And all that the rest of us do to attain them ourselves. 

Which brings me to Julianne Moore and the 4/14/13 NYTimes Taste and Style Magazine, the latter an environment more generally known for its celebration of perfection.  But not this time.  Both her photographs and the accompanying article show how Moore is ‘pushing the limits’ of her age, appearance and her characters.  Kudos to both Ms. Moore and T’s editors for finding the beauty in imperfection. 

Don’t get me wrong – it’s still a pretty small crack in this traditional bastion of perfection.  But they just might be on their way …

Wabi-sabi.