Getting To Balance. Wabi-sabi!

Often overused word - balance. 

We know we need to be more balanced. Well I agree completely. The yin - the yang. The dark - the light, the masculine - the feminine. Good cop - bad cop. The east – the west. And. I want to explain a more subtle and personal version of it. One that has been in my life forever and I wonder whether it resonates with you!

Because my need to get an idea down is almost a neurosis - I have this frenzy - a thing going off in my head - (in fact my whole body) - I have to scribble - get it down. This rough thing is enough to make me want to rethink it. I will scribble it again. A chicken-scratch in the sand. 

But when I look back it every iteration is still full of meaning to me. Right up to the final thing but not worse or better – just part of the arrangement of things.

A diamond in the rough.

Recently I've been contrasting this 'raw material' with fully thought through bits and all the intermediate bits to tell entire stories. This juxtaposition is many times more powerful than a consistent set of things at a consistent standard of finish. Hybrid is good. The roughness of it is somehow much more authentic. Much more approachable. Like a beaten and battered leather armchair is far more comfortable than a new one.

This intrigues me because that's how I feel about everything in my world. The deliberate placement of things that are seemingly careless but just feel right alongside the other thing. This is called 'wabi-sabi' in the Japanese culture and it's genesis is wrapped up with the incredible tea ceremony. Studied carelessness.

I apply this to my work. 

If I could draw a completely accurate and straight line in a strategy session I wouldn't. The imperfections in it denotes a much more natural state. As we work with teams we see a much more human sympathy with the imperfections. I always hated using a ruler in my technical drawing classes. My art teacher told me the ruler was the work of the devil. (I loved my art teacher!) If I enter a place that is just too perfect it makes me uneasy. In fact anything that is aiming to be just perfect is just not. I strongly recommend Leonard Koren's book 'Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers.' It is in many ways a doctrine for my entire world-view.

Just to make my point and to encourage you to find out more about it he describes the universe of wabi-sabi as follows. 

1. Firstly the Metaphysical Basis – Things are either developing toward or evolving from nothingness. 
2. The Spiritual Values. Truth comes from the observation of nature. Greatness exists in the inconspicuous and overlooked details. Beauty can be coxed out of ugliness.
3. The State of Mind. Acceptance of the inevitable. Appreciation of the cosmic order.
4. Moral Precepts. Get rid of all that is unnecessary. Focus on the intrinsic and ignore material hierarchy.

If you want to buy the book - http://amzn.to/dSaROE If you want to find out more about the dude - visit Leonard Koren's Blog http://www.leonardkoren.com/

In search of a global Wabi-Sabi.

Imagine if this set of characteristics, these values and these ideas, were how we all lived our lives - and how we treated and combatted this increasingly commercial world. What if instead of craving that latest fridge-freezer we didn't. What if these values were how we all felt and – what if the media and the politicians urged these thoughts and not patronising denial, deep crust pizza or train smash TV.

"A comprehensive aesthetic system, its worldview, or universe, is self-referential. It provides an integrated approach to the ultimate nature of existence (metaphysics), sacred knowledge (spirituality), emotional well-being (state of mind), behavior (morality), and the look and feel of things (materiality). The more systematic and clearly defined the components of an aesthetic system are - the more conceptual handles, the more ways it refers back to fundamentals - the more useful it is." - Leonard Koren

I couldn't put it better if I tried. So I won't.

"Wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. It's simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres authenticity above all. Wabi-sabi is flea markets, not warehouse stores; aged wood, not Pergo; rice paper, not glass. It celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind. It reminds us that we are all but transient beings on this planet-that our bodies as well as the material world around us are in the process of returning to the dust from which we came. Through wabi-sabi, we learn to embrace liver spots, rust, and frayed edges, and the march of time they represent." - Tadao Ando

"One grasps the purest essence of a rule or concept by understanding its totality. Then if one desires, the derivative forms may be modified to meet current needs." - Sen no Rikyu 

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