Marie bought me this book a few years ago. I've been meaning to re-read it and finally got around to it. Shit, it doesn't even take an hour to get through. I shouldn't have waited so long.
Trying to explain Wabi-Sabi is impossible. Explaining it isn't the point. You have to know it. True to Japanese culture, this concept is intuitive rather than scientific. You don't have to write it down and formulate it for it to exist or to be understood.
Confusing? Yeah, kind of.
The book says, “Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese Aesthetic. It is beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional…“
That's Wabi-Sabi in a nutshell. This book gives examples and expands upon what it means in regards to metaphysics, spirituality, state of mind, moral precepts and material qualities.
When we buy our next house I'll revisit to book to probably help focus our interior design decisions.
Wabi-Sabi is something I know, but didn't know it had a name until I was introduced to it. It just is. Sort of like being introduced to StraightEdge when I was 13 or 14 or whatever. I just knew.
This is the weirdest, most confusing and bizarre write-up I've done. But if you take an hour to read the book, it'll all make sense. It's by Leonard Koren and it appears you can download a pdf for free from here. Or get it on Amazon for ten bucks.
Where can I get the free pdf?
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