Wabi Sabi: The Anti-Photoshop Principle of Japanese Culture

They say “the perfect is the enemy of the good”. Our current culture is the poster boy for this idea. Where everyone on ads and social is …

Perfect. Smiling. Happy. Perfect. Smiling. Happy.

It’s like our entire culture is photoshopped, with air-brushed everything all in soft-focus, corrected for the normal rolls, wrinkles, and smudges that make up a normal person. A normal life.

But normal life isn’t smooth, it’s not perfect, and it certainly doesn’t exist in soft-focus. This is why we need the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi — the antidote to a photoshopped life.

Authenticity

The principle of wabi-sabi values the beauty of imperfection, impermanence, and the natural cycle of growth and decay. It sees beauty in the flawed, aged, and weathered aspects of objects, nature, and life itself.

The term combines two different ideas:

• “wabi” means simplicity, humility, and finding beauty in the ordinary. It appreciates rustic and unpretentious things.
• “Sabi” refers to the beauty that comes with age and the passage of time. It is weathered and owns the history it has accumulated over time.

Let Go Of The Unreal Ideal

You are sold that you should BE a way, LOOK a way, FEEL a way to live a fully photoshopped life. This creates air-brushed expectations of yourself that can never truly be met.

See this unreal idealfor what it is. Let it go, turn 180 degrees, and embrace the very opposite idea, which is wabi-sabi. This gets you to slow down, observe the perfect imperfections in yourself, and the world around you.

Your vision clarifies to see what life actually is, and not just its made-for-TV CG production.

This Is A Practice, Not A Product

To get this into your bones, don’t think about wabi-sabi as something you do, but something you become over time. You can’t flip a switch to turn it on, or go to the pharmacist to get wabi-sabi pills.

It will need to be expressed on its own. And to do it, practice this idea 1) in yourself, and 2) out in your world.

In Yourself

• Choose to see that your age is a transformation over time. It is beautiful and reflects the life you’ve lived, the experience you’ve earned, and the depth you’ve added over your years. See the beauty in that, and wear it.
• Choose to embrace a deep appreciation for your present moment. Who you are. Who you have become. You are truly a gift. Wear that as well.

In This World

• Choose to look for authenticity in the world. When you do, you become better at seeing this in yourself.
• Choose to see the photoshopped world around you as the side-show slide-show it is. Sure it’s totally entertaining, but nothing more than that.

Wabi-sabi gives you permission to let you be yourself, shows the beauty you already possess, and frees you from the tyranny of the unreal ideal.

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