Quick Shot 5: Drinking from (and being) a chipped teacup

Description

According to Japanese legend, a young man sought to learn the elaborate set of customs known as the Way of Tea. He went to a tea-master who tested the younger man by requesting that he tend the garden. The fellow cleaned up debris and raked the ground until it was perfect, then examined the immaculate garden. But before presenting his work to the master, he shook a cherry tree, causing a few flowers to spill randomly onto the ground. To this day, the Japanese revere the young man as one who understood the deep cultural thread known as wabi-sabi, which is the art of finding beauty in imperfection and deep insight in earthiness, of revering authenticity.

A common explanation underscores its connection to the tea ceremony with the example of a well-loved teacup made by an artist’s hands, cracked or chipped by constant use. Such traces remind the observer that nothing is permanent, everything is subject to change. Wabi-sabi acknowledges three simple realities: “Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” It encourages us to embrace the notion that cracks in the old teacup are assets rather than flaws; it's a different kind of looking, a different kind of mindset that encourages true acceptance of finding beauty in things as they are. And all it takes is a mind quiet enough to appreciate restrained beauty, the courage not to fear bareness, and a willingness to accept things as they are—without ornamentation. It requires a conscious effort to slow down and shift the balance from doing to being, to appreciating rather than perfecting. It's about understanding and accepting yourself—imperfections and all. It’s about being compassionate with yourself as you are, and building on whatever that is—not feverishly trying to rebuild yourself in order to pose as something else entirely.

What wabi-sabi presents is a precious store of wisdom that values tranquillity, harmony, beauty and imperfection that can strengthen your resilience in the face of the distractions and pull of materialism that is all around us. It gently motions us to relax, slow down, step back from the hectic modern world and find enjoyment and gratitude in everything you do so you can fully embrace the perfection of being imperfectly you.

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