Wabi-Sabi

"How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” Dr. Seuss

Tonight - or rather tomorrow 2 am, we turn the clocks back an hour- you remember that hour of sleep you gave up last spring? It's back. I for one have missed it. Watching people fall asleep on the train- (and I personally would like to thank the woman who let me nap on her fake leopard fur shoulder for the 22 minutes it took to get from 33rd Street to Journal Square) I know I am not alone in wanting to revisit those sixty lost minutes.

The other day I walked into Takashimaya. I have been wanting to visit for a very long time. Takashimaya is a lovely, serene department store, Japanese in origin and - well if you can call a store serene- you know it is unusual. I went to the Tea Box- the little tea room on the lower level of the store. I spent a good five minutes just looking at the rows of simple gray bowls holding dried tea leaves, petals and buds. I didn't take a picture- just stood and breathed in a moment of quiet. A few weeks ago a friend told me he had spent a night buried underground (he claimed it a holy journey- closely monitored by friends and an exercise in releasing control- I guess lying in the ground with 2 feet of dirt piled on a board over your head for 8 hours is about as released as control EVER gets). I could not understand how, or really despite hours of explanation, why anyone would do that- but at that spinning moment in a long several months of spinning, running and jumping that is my life nowadays- what I thought was- it must've been...quiet, and a relief.

I turned from the tea bowls and on a table by the elevator was a book. "Wabi-Sabi". I smiled- seemed a lot like Dr. Seuss gone Occidental- I opened it and read:

"if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi." "It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."

Nothing about green eggs or ham. If imperfection was the goal- should there not be a cat in a hat orchestrating it? And such a serious notion- the Japanese equivalent of the Greek ideal of beauty- and such a sing-song almost silly-sounding saying to express it- it stuck with me and today began to take a form, for me.

On the day that time changes everything is still the same- but I'm running through it- trying so hard to MAKE things happen. How many people try daily to control and change the world? Maybe it is just my own little dictatorial fantasy for one. And in trying to make things perfect- or running in my head to the next thing- I miss that particular moment and all that is in it. Finishing something before it ends, trying to control the outcome- but things never end. These things continue in their lives and I continue in mine- often leaving in the middle of the show, at least in my own head. One Fish, Two fish and all of a sudden Horton is hearing a Who and I never get to see the house restored to order before mom walks in and sees what damage the cat has wrought. Like so many posts- there should be footnotes and notations but my friends understand and, if you don't.... consult Dr. Seuss- it's all explained and oh, bonus. It rhymes. And we all know- nothing ever truly ends- like blood, bones and soft tissue, like love, like memory, the things close to us- the heart of all that matters- those are with us as long as we choose to hold them, as long as they serve- often longer. The treasures that make a life.

I learned another phrase, too: Mono no aware (物の哀れ lit. "the pathos of things"), also translated as "an empathy toward things," or "a pity toward things," is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of the transience of things and a gentle sadness at their passing. It also is referred to as the "ahness" of things, of life and of love.

This post isn't about retail- or rhyme. It's not about sadness at things passing or even an extra hour's sleep. It's a little personal pledge- and a nudge to anyone reading this to think about the hour you just got- how will you spend it? I am going to try- to do it a bit slower- to look for the ah-ness in that hour. And maybe spend just 10 minutes re-reading Dr, Seuss.



"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." Dr. Seuss

:)X