As always, thank you for watching. A great way to learn more about certain Eastern philosophies is with this video's sponsor, Blinkist. Get 1 free week and 25% off a premium membership to Blinkist using: www.blinkist.com/pursuitofwonder.

“The distance between good and perfect is infinite” Well said

I lived in Japan for 3 years and learned about this philosophy early in my time there. Almost in every city in Japan people go to parks where cherry trees grow. Cherry trees blossom quickly and are beautiful for a short time. However it is the falling blossoms that the Japanese have the most emotional attachment to - for in the moment of their falling they are both beautiful and simultaneously ending their purpose. There is a haiku poem that translated means "without regret, they fall and scatter…cherry blossoms".

As a recovering perfectionist, this brought tears to my eyes.

"Everything we try will fail in some way. Everything we finish will be some amount incomplete. Everything we know, everything we cherish, everything that works right now, will decay, fall apart, and disappear into nothingness."

"It’s ordinary to love the beautiful, but it’s beautiful to love the ordinary. “

Crying tears at 3am in the morning. I try to continuously pressure myself but why not just let it be? I am beautiful as I am; my life is beautiful as is and the people I’ve met and meet are beautiful as they are. It’s a life of beauty. I wish that’s what we all saw together

This philosophy strikes a chord in our perfection-obsessed society, offering a refreshing perspective on what success and beauty truly mean. Wabi-sabi encourages us to shift our focus from the end result to the process, highlighting the beauty in every stage of life or creation, despite - or because of - its imperfections and inevitable decline. It seems to me that this philosophy can lead to a much more grounded, realistic, and content way of living. In a world where we often strive for unattainable perfection, the idea that nothing is finished, nothing lasts, and nothing is perfect might be exactly what we need to remember. Embracing wabi-sabi could potentially foster resilience, patience, and a deeper appreciation for life in its every form and stage. It's an invitation to shift our gaze from the flaws we perceive to the unique beauty that lies within them.

acceptance and gratitude are the keys to life

You can see this in action if you love someone and watch them grow old, still loving them as much or more than ever.

Life contains suffering. Most suffering is self inflicted due to attachments. I guess I'm like the teacup - reparing my cracks with bits of knowledge and understanding, creating a different and more beautiful existence.

My current main motto in life is "good enough".

Acceptance of oneself is the first step toward genuine growth and personal transformation.

When you believe it's perfect, it's perfect.. And when you believe it's not, it's not. The truth depends on what you believe, not on an ultimate concept.

My whole life is basically a “wabi-sabi” type of life. Bc I was born with a genetic disorder where a part of my dna is missing, automatically making my body and life, philosophically speaking, “wabi-sabi.” I’ve never looked at my life this way, in a philosophical type of why, even though I do love learning about philosophy, i don’t really apply it to my everyday life, bc some concepts aren’t applicable. But this philosophy definitely is.

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic philosophy that appreciates the beauty of imperfection, transience, and the natural cycle of growth and decay. It values simplicity, asymmetry, and the unique characteristics that come with age and wear. Wabi-sabi encourages finding beauty in the imperfect, incomplete, and modest, embracing the inherent flaws and subtleties in objects, nature, and life itself.

"We all try to control our little worlds. We all come up with plans for our future, and we try to stay on track with those plans. But life just happens, and it can blow everything we thought our life would be out of the water in a blink. Nothing is ever really in its right place. Yet, we never stop trying to put things 'right.' We pick up pieces of our old, broken plans and we try to build new ones, over and over, totally at the mercy of our own chaotic little worlds."

Beautiful Wabi-sabi. ❤. Today I'm 51.... what a wonderful way to start my day!

Japanese culture is so deep and philosophical, videos like these make me happy thanks 😻😻😻😻

The practice of kinsuki as you describe in the video is almost a self contained philosophy in its own right. The idea of a subject becoming more valuable due to having imperfections that were corrected with valuable bonds is what stood out to me.

The universe is defined by its imperfection. If it was perfect, the matter and antimatter would have mutually canceled each other out, and there would just be void. Instead we have a universe of diversity, of stars, of planets, of people, of thought, of feeling. Flowers, Marie Curie, Elvis Presley, pizza, chess. All because the universe wasn't perfect to begin with. That fact has always been comforting to me.

Dang who knew wasabi could be so deep Edit- to everyone saying wabi Sabi: wasabi, deal with it 😤

3:39 Beautiful. There was a scene in the series The Man In The High Castle that focused on this kind of repair of a broken porcelain cup. Thank you for shedding more light on that moment.

If perfection is ever attained, there's literally nothing left to do or to improve upon. I pray perfection is never reached. It'll be all over.

It’s hard to separate your writing from the philosophical text but regardless, I’m immersed in each story’s meaning

This philosophy and aesthetic has been formalized by the Japanese concept of wabi sabi, but once you’ve taken it in, it’s everywhere. The Stoics, for example, emphasized the importance of knowing how the universe operates (physics) in setting proper expectations. Impermanence is embraced by indigenous animistic culture everywhere. Embracing oneness involves not only acceptance of, but appreciation for, all in its constantly varying but inevitable stages. “The imperfect is our paradise. Note that, in this bitterness, delight, Since the imperfect is so hot in us, Lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds.” ‘The Poems of Our Climate’ Wallace Stevens, 1942

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 (Anthem)

This short video, like so many others of yours has changed my life...thank you.

This is why i stopped trying to produce music perfectly. Perfectly following a scale, perfectly timing everything, perfectly processing everything; until I realized that imperfect human touch is what makes a song “perfect.”

One of my favorite philosophies in furniture making, an extension of a taoist mindset

The most important information I have been given in a long time. Wabi Sabi and Kikugai resonate with my soul. Thank you so much.

Wow, this video is short but so impactful. Thank you or these beautiful reminders.

Balance in the self is key to all things.

this channel is so good it's unbeliveable

wow! this was lovely, thank you!

That was insanely eye opening thank you

_Whatever happens, happens._

Thank you for uploading 🙏🏻

Literally the ending statements are amazing.

notification of this video popped up right when i needed it. thank you

This channel always does me good, thank you so very much

Awesome lovely video, Robert never disappoints.

I needed this. For so long!

One Love! Always forward, never ever backward!! ☀☀☀ 💚💛❤ 🙏🏿🙏🙏🏼

This is an excellent video. Cheers.

Love kintsugi. Have repaired a bowl that broke. Glued it the covered broken parts in gold paint. It is lovely.

Excellent. Brilliant. Thank you 🙏🏼

Will I be harmed after my death? That's the most important question that I could ever ask, having anything to do with me. So important to me is it, that it overrides the importance of everything else, including what you were just speaking about in your video.

Such a relevant useful message/reminder/philosophy for the times we find ourselves in.

Imagination is the only true weapon in the war against reality.

Well done, well said!

This Japanese Concept is extremely interesting. I have seen the pottery with gold, but never knew the "gold" was actually repairs to the cracks in the pottery. Wabisabi is very interesting indeed, thanks for sharing this information with us.

Watching ur video always give me a sense of peace

Thank you for this. It is reminding me to relax into reality.

in college i wrote an essay about Japanese tea ceremony and this was dope to watch. I focussed on the potery and had to do a bunch of research so this was really satisfying to be able to refresh on the topic through a new lense

I love your videos, its my dose of existential crisis😂❤

love this....Thank you!

Beautiful video . thankyou so much dude❤

videos like yours and the podcast Secular Buddhism have really helped me shift perspective through severe chronic illness and given me a lighter more graceful outlook on life.

To some extent, although more tacitly that Wabi-Saba, most cultures celebrate these principles. The Greek oratory techniques, Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. In Australia we have a wonderful poem created by Dorothea Mackeller: MY COUNTRY The love of field and coppice, of green and shaded lanes, Of ordered woods and gardens is running in your veins. Strong love of grey-blue distance, brown streams and soft, dim skies- I know but cannot share it, my love is otherwise. I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror- the wide brown land for me! The stark white ring-barked forests, all tragic to the moon, The sapphire-misted mountains, the hot gold hush of noon, Green tangle of the brushes where lithe lianas coil, And orchids deck the tree-tops, and ferns the warm dark soil. Core of my heart, my country! Her pitiless blue sky, When, sick at heart, around us we see the cattle die - But then the grey clouds gather, and we can bless again The drumming of an army, the steady soaking rain. Core of my heart, my country! Land of the rainbow gold, For flood and fire and famine she pays us back threefold. Over the thirsty paddocks, watch, after many days, The filmy veil of greenness that thickens as we gaze. An opal-hearted country, a wilful, lavish land - All you who have not loved her, you will not understand - Though earth holds many splendours, wherever I may die, I know to what brown country my homing thoughts will fly. -Dorothea McKellar, 1904

The perfection of imperfection.

Thank you for the information

Thank you for this enlightening video on the philosophy of wabi-sabi. It's a refreshing perspective that encourages us to embrace the imperfections and transience of life, rather than constantly striving for unattainable perfection. This concept is a gentle reminder that beauty can be found in the most unexpected places, even in the cracks, stains, and wrinkles that we often overlook or deem undesirable. It's a philosophy that can truly change the way we perceive our lives and the world around us. Keep up the great work!

Key insights 🔥 Western tradition's obsession with reason and order as weapons against the universe may lead to a constant need for perfection, causing us to lose sight of the beauty in imperfection and the acceptance of the coldness of the universe. 🌸 The concept of wabi-sabi teaches us to embrace the imperfections and transience of reality, finding peace in the constant flux of life. 🌸 Wabi-sabi acknowledges the authenticity of impermanence, embracing the idea that nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. 🍵 The Japanese tea ceremony was redefined based on the principles of wabi-sabi, embracing simplicity and imperfection. 🌸 Beauty, according to wabi-sabi, is a dynamic event that occurs between us and something else, reminding us that perfection is an infinite distance away and that the process itself is part of the result. 🌿 Wabi-sabi teaches us to accept the reality of decay and incompleteness, reminding us of the interconnectedness of all things. 🌸 "Wabi-sabi may not be everyone's taste, and no one can ever totally embrace imperfection, but perhaps in our own imperfect abilities to ever fully embrace imperfection, we are still embodying the idea of wabi-sabi perfectly." 🌸 "Ikigai" is a Japanese concept that emphasizes purpose-driven activity, low stress, and a balanced lifestyle as keys to happiness and longevity

Really needed your chanel man, thank you!

This is absolutely fantastic

Beautiful insights, thank you

Love this philosophy. Never heard this before. Thanks.

Thank you I enjoyed that!

Thank you for good contents.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for this great video bro :)

MY GOD! TOTALLY!!!! THANK YOU FORCLARIFYING!

Excellent presentation 👏👏

I like this kind of art because you're not exposed to the fumes of the paint that drives some artist crazy.

Thank you Very much Sir.

Want a perfection like you..... Pure focus on your work.

Like a flower, that's why I love you with your thorns.

I love all your videos, i've watched them all and trust me you have completely changed the way i think. Thank you so much even if you do see this comment just thank you

Thank u for this great vedio❤

finally I know a word for the "mode" I am in sometimes. I would call days on where I could see beauty in everything "days of wonderment". It's a state of constant bliss, entranced in co-existence with what is and how it came to be.

"It is one thing to desire the perfect; it is another thing, entirely, to demand it, to accept nothing but the perfect." Vita, Duchess de Boheme.

Beautiful video

I didn't know imperfection could be that perfect

Love this ❤ thank you

"If your soul burns with passion and desire then it is your duty to be reduced to ashes by it."

Loved the video ❤

I love your videos, keep up with the nice work ❤❤❤

I needed this wisdom today, somehow!

Beautiful video. I’m really going to try seeing the beauty of imperfection in life in all of its’ forms. Maybe starting with myself as a perfectly imperfect being. I am a work in progress. And that is enough.

Thank you

Indeed one cannot force your thoughts to become reality. No way that happens. I have experience it. It feels like Universe and I are against each other. So you explained his concept beautifully. Aside from Ikigai I would like to recommend two books from Japanese authors Fujimoto Koga and Ichiro Ishimi : The courage to be disliked and the courage to be happy. It mixes and explains the teachings of greek philosphers and the psychologist "Adler" in a dialogue manner. A person talks about his problems, insecurities, lack of belief in himself to a guru who is said to provide happiness to all human. The person debates with this Sage/priest/ Guru whatever you call. Did he get an answer? Find out after reading it. Highly recommended!!!🙏🙏

This is also a reason why some of the most beautiful people may also have a characteristic that is charming. Not always fitting into the pre-concieved notions or standards, essence may be enjoyed. By the way, I am a stckler for symmetry in a room. It is my ability to notice whenever a placement of an object or a measurement is even slightly off! I can be annoying in that regard. Thank you for your video. We learned about this wabi-sabi years ago in art school but to be honest, we need to bring this subject up again in the current world that we live in.

I love this chanel. Thank you.

This video inspired me. I have tons of cracked or repaired stuff that looks like crap because I can't throw it away- it's time to embrace the art of kintsugi. It'll be the most beautiful Hoarders episode ever 👍

Most excellent! Please do a video on Gaman. A great many folks can benefit from practicing Gaman as well as Wabi Sabi

In my college ceramics class we used Wabi Sabi when making imperfect projects. We were encouraged to use odd shapes and used Raku. We cooled the projects outside and dropped it in a box of wood chips, newspaper, ECT. It created some randomly vibrant or completely unexpected looks based entirely on chemistry and chance.

In other words, gratitude.

Love this

I loved it ❤