Our theme for November is “Wabi-Sabi“— a Japanese aesthetic, philosophy, and way of being that values the kind of simple, authentic, and unpretentious beauty that reminds us of the transient nature of life.
The phrase combines the two Japanese words — wabi and sabi — to connote something more than they each mean on their own. But beginning with an understanding of the two terms can help enrich our understanding of their combined meaning.
Here’s how Beth Kempton explains them in her book, Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life:
- Wabi, she says, is “about finding beauty in simplicity, and a spiritual richness and serenity in detaching from the material world”.
- Sabi, on the other hand, “has come to communicate a deep and tranquil beauty that emerges with the passage of time” — a kind of beauty that “reminds us of our own connection with the past, of the natural cycle of life, and of our very own mortality.”
Put together, those two words have a deeper and richer meaning that is hard to fully articulate. Kempton describes it as an intangible feeling we experience “when we come into contact with the essence of authentic beauty — the kind that is unpretentious, imperfect, and all the better for that.”
It seems to me that wabi-sabi in this deepest sense is a wonderful reflection of what we value and seek together here inside the Joybook community…
- Soulfulness vs. surface-level materialism
- Acceptance vs. judgment
- Clarity vs. complexity
- Calm vs. chaos
- Surrender vs. control
- Authenticity vs. perfection
- Heart-centered living vs. intellectualizing
- Ease and well-being vs. stress and hustle
Wabi-sabi invites us to pay attention. To appreciate what is. To see the bigger picture. To look to nature as a teacher and role model. And to walk a path of creating beauty and meaning in the world — while also embracing ourselves and our lives just as they are.
In Beth Kempton’s words, “Wabi sabi teaches us to be content with less, in a way that feels like more.”
I’ve been planning this as our November theme for many months now.
It feels perfect for this fall-into-winter season — with its falling leaves, its fading beauty, its many symbols of the cycles of life and the spiritual wisdom of letting go.
But it also feels especially meaningful now to me on a personal level, one month after the loss of my mother. The perspective it brings will be a gift to me, as will the reminder that there is beauty to be found and savored even amidst loss and difficulty — that, as Kempton writes, “stillness, simplicity, and beauty can help us fully inhabit a moment in the middle of anything.”
I hope those things will be a gift to you too.
I’m looking forward to exploring this theme together this month and enriching our lives with the beauty of wabi-sabi.