Script:

“Wabi Sabi refers to the beauty of the impermanent, the imperfect, the rustic, and the melancholy. It derives not from a love of invincibility, youth, and flawlessness, but from a respect for what is passing, fragile, slightly broken, and modest. Wabi Sabi believes that things are always more beautiful for bearing the marks of age and individuality.”

What you just heard was the explanation of a term explaining Japanese Aesthetics Wabi Sabi. If you, like me, were raised in western culture this idea of beauty may not come naturally to you. For centuries we have built government buildings, churches, and monuments with the idea of perfect symmetry in mind.  We discard clothing once it begins to show signs of wear. Chipped cups and plates are cast aside and replaced with newer, pristine versions of themselves. Thousands of dollars are spent on eye creams and face balms to prevent signs of aging on our faces.

This western obsession with perfection is one that is reflected in how we create art. We want our pictures to have the perfect composition, our videos to be edited flawlessly, and our writing to have gone through the hands of several editors. To many of us, this is how you get great art. You smooth out the rough edges, fill in the gaps, add a filter where needed, and in the end, you deliver something perfect. But what would happen if we stepped back from this need to have perfect deliverables, and embraced Wabi Sabi?

This is my grandma, Arlene. She’s one of the most hardworking people I’ve ever met, and one of the most beautiful. She’s spent her life working, raising a family, making cross country moves, and starting her own business. She’s retired now, but I’d be lying if I said you could not see signs of aging on my grandma’s face. These lines don’t detract from her beauty, they add to it by hinting at a life well lived.

What if out art had these same lines? What if we allowed ourselves to create something that wasn’t technically perfect, but that had a sense of life in it? Would we be happier with the outcome, less stressed trying to reach for a level of perfection that isn’t possible? Would others be able to see themselves in it more? Or would this art seem like it was crafted by someone lazy and unskilled? There’s only one way to find out.