Appreciating Beauty in an Imperfect World

What is beauty? How do you define it? These are important questions because the definition of beauty determines how we view beauty in the world. It also determines how we categorize everything and everyone in the world based on whether or not we find the object or the person in question “beautiful”.

In the Western world, we have often tended to define beauty in terms of the absolute, associating beauty with perfection. For many, beauty is an ideal. This means that, like all ideals, beauty exists on a higher plane of reality than the rest of us. It is different from us, apart from us, and not us. In short, in the minds of many, beauty is synonymous with perfection.

Yet, we live in an extremely imperfect world. In nature, things are rarely symmetrical. There are few straight lines and right angles. Organic curves are not squared. Nature is far more concerned with function than with form. So much so, that form follows function, almost as an afterthought.

The world is also governed by chaos. By this, we do not mean that things are completely random and happen spontaneously. There is order and cause does precede effect. However, for every process in the world, there is a point where outcomes are unpredictable. For example, we know why clouds form, as well as how they form, and from this we can examine the environment and make a fairly accurate prediction of when and where they will form. Yet, we cannot make any sort of prediction about the specific shape any single cloud will take or how that shape will specifically move across the sky and interact with other clouds. There are simply so many variables acting on one individual cloud that it is impossible to speak to shape, movement, and interaction. In general, clouds are predictable and definable, but specifically, they are not. A single cloud is chaotic.

This chaos phenomenon is not limited to clouds; it also applies to everything in the natural world, including you and me. Trees are chaotic, so are birds, plants, grasses, air movement, sunlight, and the list goes on. So, how does this observable chaos affect our definition of beauty? If beauty is perfection, and nothing in the world is perfect, does this mean that nothing in the world is capable of being beautiful?

Obviously, this is not the case. The world is a naturally beautiful place, chock full of people and things that please the eye. So, if the world is beautiful despite its imperfections, then maybe it’s our definition of beauty that is causing the disconnect between what we believe beauty is and the beauty that we observe.

This is where the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi comes into play. Wabi-sabi is a way of defining beauty that comes from the traditions of Zen Buddhism. It tells us that beauty occurs naturally and that the inherent flaws and defects in everything are essential elements of anything that is beautiful. In fact, without those flaws and defects, there would be no beauty. In short, the wabi-sabi philosophy embraces imperfection and elevates that imperfection to the defining characteristic of anything beautiful.

In Zen Buddhism, words prevent enlightenment. Therefore, defining the meaning of the words “wabi-sabi” goes against the grain of the philosophy. However, such a definition is essential to understanding what wabi-sabi is and is not. “Wabi” translates as simplicity, and “sabi,” is the beauty associated with wear and tear. From the perspective of wabi-sabi, beauty is never contrived and always natural. Beauty is inextricably bound to the chaos of the world.

The best example of wabi-sabi is perhaps found in the Japanese tea ceremony. The beauty of the tea ceremony is not only defined by its simple and pure movements, but also by the objects used in the ceremony, particularly the bowls used to drink the tea that has been brewed. These bowls are handmade glazed pottery. Most often, it means they are irregularly shaped; the glaze cracked and uneven. They are used and revered precisely because of these flaws and not in spite of them. It is the imperfections that make them unique and, thus, beautiful.

Wabi-sabi is the antithesis of our Western definition of beauty. It rejects the monument and the ideal in favor of the imperfect, the incomplete, and the impermanent. Wabi-sabi is found in laugh lines and in crow’s feet. It is found in the worn fabric of a favorite pair of jeans. It is found in a fieldstone wall and in the crust of a homemade loaf of bread. Think about what a child prizes most when taken on a walk. It is a chance feather blowing across the path, a distinctive leaf or piece of wood. It is a stone or pebble with a quality all its own. This is the essence of wabi-sabi.

Wabi-sabi is not found in plastic surgery, city skylines, or the lines of a sports car. It can only be found in what is natural, in what is humble, and in what results from the work that occurs in day-to-day living. There is no goal in wabi-sabi. There is no drive for self-improvement. There is no ego. In wabi-sabi, beauty is everywhere, hiding in plain sight. Perfection is an illusion and a lie. In the mess and mistakes of every day, a miracle lies waiting to be discovered.

“My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents.” - Mahatma Gandhi