Wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy that finds contentment and peace of mind by embracing the inevitability of imperfection and impermanence. It is an aesthetic principle that accepts the natural cycle of growth and decay and the fleetingness of life. Like many concepts, it can mean many things to many people and be applied and interpreted in a variety of ways.
To me wabi-sabi speaks of the transitory nature of many of our efforts: no matter how many times I clean my house, it can always be cleaner, and it will inevitable be less clean tomorrow! As an entrepreneur and a business owner, there is always one more thing I can do; the only limits on the hours I work are those I set. I’m in my 70’s and I’ve blown past 5 ‘normal’ retirement age milestones. My 70-hour work weeks are in the rear-view mirror and to get even to 50+ hours, I’d have to count my reading, writing and teaching time and I never really did before. Acceptance. Natural cycles. Transitions. Transitory. Nothing is or ever can be perfect. Ok, got it.
I know that someday I will be ‘smoldering in my grave’ and somehow the world will go on without me and probably be just fine. Accepting this reality does not mean that I give less than my best or that I cease striving to better the world around me. Rather, I take it all in stride, pace myself, roll with the punches, laugh at myself on occasion and give all a smile and a hearty, cheery greeting.
Closing Quote:
Ozymandias
“I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
– Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792-1822
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
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