Anger or reflection... which would you choose?
In one of my more philosophical moments the other night, I happened to mention that I remember hearing about an ancient oriental philosophy that says, "If a valuable glass breaks you should not be angry with it being broken, but instead reflect on all the times you enjoyed the glass before it broke"... or something to that effect.
The discussion admittedly was around how hard doing that can be.
Afterwards, recalling the discussion and racking my brain as to where I had heard about my so-called oriental philosophy (and if it was in fact even real), I did what any inquisitive person would do... I turned to the Internet.
I was not able to validate my oriental philosophy of "reflecting on all the times you enjoyed the glass before it broke", but I did discover Kintsugi.
Something that as an art form is simply beautiful, and as a philosophy is simply marvellous.
Kintsugi is a Japanese philosophy (and art) that treats "breakage" as part of the history of an object, and not something to be thrown away or disguised; it is illustrated by repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum.* Getting back to those philosophical discussions from the other night, Kintsugi would have been a nice addition because some of the talk was about the scrapes, scars and breaks that are part of our journey; literally and figuratively.
As I reflect more on recent discussions, as well as newly found philosophies, it all seems to be one big fat allegory for working through the trials and tribulations of life.
- Things in life break, both figuratively and literally; objects, situations, relationships and even people. Reflection offers a far more positive energy, whereas anger offers nothing but the negative form... intuitively and practically, we all know anything positive is the way to go.
- When things break, they can be put back together. By definition, the very act of being repaired makes it different, but that doesn't mean it will to be any less beautiful.
- The scrapes, scars, and breaks that come with the journey of life should be celebrated... they are part of who we are, and that is a beautiful thing. We all have stories to share and celebrate.
- Kintsugi in an allegorical sense, like being reflective, is not easy but can be done, and must be a conscious choice. With patience, skill and desire, something wonderful can come from all those pieces.
So for me, I choose "reflection". Just look what happens when you add some "discussion" and access to the Internet.
iamgpe
* Many thanks to the Internet and Wikipedia for helping me discover Kintsugi.
"
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Comments
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #25
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #24
Dear Graham, I say learn to go into our anger for emotion is always sending us a message that we do not hear, yes we feel the emotion but do not hear it. Thus instead of anger or reflection I offer anger AND appreciation. Appreciation has the kind of depth to it that enjoyment does not have and in the context of kintsugi, that depth can be termed spiritual, and in learning about kintsugi I now see how that this very appreciation invigorates the imagination and thus take us from this depth that is spiritual to the physicality of the beautiful - and here I see in the kintsugi craft a great profundity - a flow of artistry from spiritual to physical.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #23
Thanks for your comment Franci Eugenia Hoffman
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #22
Thanks for the comment Tony Rossi. Yes, we are bigger than a single moment... but then again some moments can be very big.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #21
Thanks of the comments CityVP Manjit. My point was that when something breaks it is better to reflect on all the enjoyment you got out of what was broken instead of getting angry that it is broken. You offer other interesting perspectives... thanks.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #20
Thanks for the comment David Lisle. That was my intent.. reflect on all the joy, etc that came with what was broken... not get angry (or reflect) on the fact it is now broken.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #19
Thanks for the comment ... it is our unique character that makes us special and gives us the ability to do anything.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #18
Thanks for the comment Lisa Gallagher
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #17
Thanks for reading and sharing John Rylance.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #16
That is a great story Paul Frank Gilbert... thank you for sharing.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #15
I agree Ren\u00e9e Cormier... we are all more beautiful than we think. Thanks for reading.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #14
And what an impressive Kintsugi it is Kevin Pashuk. Thanks for reading!
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #13
Thanks for the comment Alan Culler. It is appreciated.
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #12
Thanks so much for the kudos Phil Friedman. It is greatly appreciated!
Graham🐝 Edwards
7 years ago #11
Thanks for the note . I totally agree!
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #10
I am using the word "renaissance" until a better descriptor comes along. Certainly the context I hold "renaissance" in is more than a cycle of rebirth or awakening. The problem is Satyug which means the "golden age" is also imbued as a cycle and in that context we are in the age of kalyug (dark ages) which in Vedic terms is set to continue for another 400,000+ years, at the end of which it is the end of the world. The last thing I want to focus on is end-times no matter who likes to preach or engage that. A good example of it is the Golden Age of Greece http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/greece/gr1050e.shtml Given a choice between the word "enlightenment" and "renaissance" - I prefer to imbue new meaning to the expression "21st Century Renaissance". The problem here is that I am not thinking of awakening as an age, but our DNA as in evolution rather than mysticism. As the 21st Century advances into profound transformation, we have reached an age where even the human genome is beginning to be deciphered, a time where the mysterious human brain is being examined as a neural network and the two combined have technologists talking about singularity. So the word "21st Century Renaissance" is more than enlightenment but still at the human level, whereas singularity addresses post-human realities. Since I don't presently know what to call that, I will settle for the moniker "21st Century renaissance" - and so I continue to lack a more poignant word to describe this. The Golden Age of Athens lasted for about a century.
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #9
Dear Irene, let me qualify "unnecessary pain". The industrial age and the prison of archaic hierarchies have little leg-room in a developing knowledge age. Unnecessary pain is NEVER an impetus of renaissance, it is the leading indicator that we are drifting to the dark ages. Fortunately, while we are all still in the dark ages, we are at the end of this dark age and the distance light at the end of this tunnel points to renaissance. Where kintsugi is highly relevant in this context is that we don't have to discard the broken pieces of the industrial age - but have the creative imagination to treat the industrial age as raw material for moving into the light. I will never seek to open the pandora's box of pain that the industrial age created - instead I celebrate the human spirit that becomes resilient in imagination because the adversity is opportunity, but not in unnecessary pain where adversity is horror.
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #8
Dear Tony, what I see in Kintsugi is not actually anything that is reflective, but craftsmanship which is immediate practicality. The spiritual dimension of that craft is then not a reflection of the broken but an antithesis of consumerism and its attitude of disposable product. In that regard we are emerging out of the industrial age back to a craft culture where our hands are the source of spirituality and not objects. Kintsugi is not about gluing broken things back together, but using gold lacquer to make the object more beautiful than it was before. The spiritual component is the elevation of the previous form, because the beauty is in the uniqueness that results in the restoration art. It is testimony to our tendency to anthropomorphize that is our blindspot here - we are not making a broken object more human - we are tending our spiritual ability to create a new dimension - for where there may have been sameness in the pottery, now there is character and pattern - that emerges from the gold lacquer or whatever material the craftsman choose to shape the new object. Just as the maker needed raw material to shape the pottery, the broken pottery is raw material for the kintsugi craftsperson. Kintsugi therefore is far more spiritual than the latest thinking on cradle to cradle design https://www.ted.com/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design Pottery does not equal pain, it equals craft - the quicker we get society out of the age of pain, the quicker we can see the beauty in renaissance. What I see in Kintsugi therefore is renaissance and not reflection.
CityVP Manjit
7 years ago #7
Lisa Gallagher
7 years ago #6
John Rylance
7 years ago #5
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #4
Alan Culler
7 years ago #3
Phil Friedman
7 years ago #2
Mohammed Abdul Jawad
7 years ago #1