Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
—Leonard Cohen
There is beauty in broken things. This may be most evident in Japan where the fragmented is elevated to the level of an art form. In ceramics, if an earthen vessel such as a teacup or teapot cracks, the craftsman highlights the chink or crack in gold lacquer. The art of accenting the flawed and the imperfect and transforming it into beauty is known as kintsugi. At this time in history, we are called to do the same, that is to embrace fracture as an opportunity for change. Instead of ruin, the crack holds potential for transformation. Any rupture or loss we face is an opening for growth. In the art of “golden joinery”, kintsugi is not only about giving your coffee mug or tea cup another life, but to transform imperfection into meaningful expression. There is no attempt to conceal or hide the damage. Rather, the repair involves illuminating the disfigurement in brilliant gold.
In this way, it is possible to see breakage as a means of transformation. In Japanese tea culture, the cracked bowl is celebrated for its brokenness and by way of its brokenness, comes to have more aesthetic value. Whether it is your body, family life, home, or community, consider fractures as openings. What if we collectively highlight the cracks going on around us in the world today? Can we find ways to beautify breakage? Whenever a split occurs, whenever cracks appear, know they are there to let the light in.
Photo: Detail of a Kintsugi Bowl | www.lifegate.com/kintsugi#
