Wabi-Sabi

The beauty as the state of consciousness, seen in mundane, imperfect, ephemeral and incomplete. This is wabi-sabi, ungraspable moment of humble awe of deeply natural intimateness.

Fundamentally rooted in Zen, with appreciation of graceful ageing and hidden wisdom, wabi-sabi is the tremendous opposite of the consumer society's icons. Yet it still survives, and even we, if we have a time to stand still, can understand and admire the beauty of spontaneous harmony and subtlety.

Can we imagine a better representation of the wabi-sabi principles in nature than a whale? Truly, cetaceans are perfect personification of loneliness and grace. How shocking is the contrast between the tranquil melancholy of these large mammals and the bloody butchery in the name of scientific research and consumer society.

Maybe we can also suggest that some of the wabi-sabi principles are reflected in the traditional Japanese art of origami, where delicateness, patience and the ephemeral beauty play the leading role. How would we then portray the contrast between the art of delicateness, patience and the short-lived beauty and between the whaling?

Do the benefits of the whaling industry outweigh the desire for protecting these beautiful animals? Is the whale oil, meat, and even the results of the so-called research for that matter, really worth more than a simple act of admiration?

It is the utter overturn of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And yet, owing to the fact that the whole situation leaves us impuissant and sorrowful, we can experience the glimpse of passing, transient beauty. In other words, wabi-sabi.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• japanese
• aesthetics
• design
• art
• wabi-sabi
• origami
• whale
• whaling
• beauty
• transient
• zen
• sadness
• grace
• shocking

[JiriJerabekShow]

gymikk, thank you for your comment! I'm glad my video provoked your thoughts and your response - that is the purpose after all. I never heard about whale graves and commemoration so thanks for enlightening me. But even I believe that whales are respected it doesn't make any difference to the species that is endangered. We must protect them and their own freedom to live - not only in our blood and memories of future generations. I never saw a whale but I wish my grandchildren will be able to.

[AmpoTheKing]

1:56 titts :)

[gymikk]

They,the people who are living by the whaling,think they can live by killing other lives.Therfore,they feel sin within them,feel thanks to the lives those who sacrificed for themselves.Whales,or dolphins,are being killed,but its "killing" is not a vain.Because the lives got into the people lasts forever,for generations to generations.through time to time,in their blood.That is the very opposite of mortality and transitory.Its Imortality for the new generations to come.

[gymikk]

Unlike the Europeans,or the Americans in the 19th century,hunting whales for the purpose of obtaining oil then they throw all the parts pf whales left,Japan used every parts of whale from meat to their moustache to be made the finest craftworks.Japanese people respect the lives of whales just not end up in killing itself.Whales are commemorated,their graves were built by those who do whaling .Therefore,no it is wrong to say whaling industry outwegh the whale conservation.They value whales a lot.