We Break, only to Become Stronger
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
When a bowl, teapot or a precious vase falls and shatters into a thousand pieces, what is the first thing you do besides panicking about how you would tell your parents about it? You throw it away angrily and regretfully. Well, in Japan they art (I wish I could write the word art with some glitter effect to make it seem magical but okay…). Like I said, they make art. It is called ‘Kintsugi’. It is the art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. This traditional Japanese art uses a precious metal – liquid gold, liquid silver or lacquer dusted with powdered gold. It highlights and enhances the breaks thus adding value to the broken object. I delved further into their captivating culture, I came to know that this practice was built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art! The technique consists in joining fragments and giving them a new, more refined aspect. Every repaired piece is unique, because of the randomness with which ceramics shatters and the irregular patterns formed that are enhanced with the use of metals. With this technique it’s possible to create true and always different works of art, each with its own story and beauty, thanks to the unique cracks formed when the object breaks, as if they were wounds that leave different marks on each of us. Every fissure is unique and instead of repairing an item like new, this 400-year-old technique actually highlights the “scars” as a part of the design.
Using this as a metaphor for healing ourselves also teach us an important lesson: Sometimes in the process of repairing things that have broken, we actually create something more unique, beautiful and resilient. The kintsugi technique suggests many things. We shouldn’t throw away broken objects. When an object breaks, it doesn’t mean that it is no more useful. Its breakages can become valuable. We should try to repair things because sometimes in doing so we obtain more valuable objects. This is the essence of resilience. Each of us should look for a way to cope with traumatic events in a positive way, learn from negative experiences, take the best from them and convince ourselves that exactly these experiences make each person unique, precious. Summing up, I’d like to simply state Kintsugi as not just a physical practice, but also a spiritual practice for the soul, to be more resilient, to overcome challenges while being a better version of yourself with all of your beautiful gilded flaws.
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