Kintsugi Dancing

Kintsugi (金継ぎ^?) (Japanese: golden joinery) or Kintsukuroi (金繕い^?) (Japanese: golden repair) is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum  ...  As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. 




I'm currently in the midst of two group expressions and experiences of going into the darkness with the Goddess. This is the time of year for this passage. As any time of groping around in a dark passage, what I find is evidence of brokenness. Evidence that reveals how the broken pieces have healed and rejoined is also tangible in that darkness.

Finding it embedded deep within reminded me of the Japanese art of Kintsugi, joining broken pieces with elements of powdered precious metals to make art out of brokenness. That's what I am: art with visible broken places and shiny scars exposing the unique beauty of how I have healed.... and how much has returned to wholeness.

In the midst of these visions and memories, I am awestruck by the difference in my outlook. It's easier to accept my flaws, to embrace the healing and to let go of the wounding arrows. I'm by no means perfect, inside or out. What I am is reunited. What I am is reformed. What I am is released. It's always my choice as to how I walk in this world, whether I twist and bend to hide the broken places or dance fully revealed and let the scars show that piece of who I am.

What about you? How do you walk in this world? Do you let your brokenness show? What pieces do you keep hidden? Are you aware of your own beauty? How does that awareness define your movement?

More on Cohen's Anthem

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leonard_Cohen_2107.jpg

"That is the background of the whole record, ... if you have to come up with a philosophical ground, that is "Ring the bells that still can ring."  It's no excuse... for an abdication of your own personal responsibilities towards yourself.... "Ring the bells that still can ring.": they're few and far between but you can find them. "Forget your perfect offering", that is the hang-up, that you're gonna work this thing out. Because we confuse this idea and we've forgotten the central myth of our culture which is the expulsion from the garden of Eden. This situation does not admit of solution or perfection. This is not the place where you make things perfect.... The thing is imperfect. And worse, there is a crack in everything that you can put together, physical objects, mental objects, constructions of any kind. But that's where the light gets in, and that's where the resurrection is ..., that's where the repentance is. It is with the confrontation, with the brokenness of things."

~~ Leonard Cohen from Diamonds in the Line

I seem to be in a Cohen-state-of-mind lately. He is one amazing musical talent. His songs are poetry, philosophy and calls to action. The above quote is his explanation for the song Anthem, which I quoted in the past two entries.

There is no perfection in the world ~ we need to work with what we have, keep moving forward and find our deepest, truest selves in it all. Part of his explanation refers to the "central myth of our culture which is the expulsion from the garden of Eden" ~ which is true in terms of Western Abrahamic-based culture. Is it true in other cultures? Maybe. Maybe not. But I come from that particular culture and I understand his reference.

Do you agree with Cohen's philosophy? Do you believe that there is no perfection? that we are responsible for our lives in spite of that fact? For what do we need to repent? How does that repentance affect our lives?