The Sacred Repairing Art of Kintsugi

So many of us are going through a degree of trauma right now, be it a broken relationship, a broken spirit, a broken body, or a broken bank account we are all going through something. And, in the wake of all these situations are the scars that they leave behind which could be physical, mental, or spiritual. All of us need healing on some level and in some form.

So, I wanted to share with you what I discovered while visiting sacred sites in Japan. There is a word in Japanese – Kintsugi – which means “join with gold” which is the ancient 15th-century way of repairing a broken object. When something meaningful broke, be it a vase, a bowl, or whatever, they didn’t just throw it away. They methodically and lovingly repaired all the broken items by filling them carefully with gold. The cracks in the ceramic pieces were beautiful – exactly the way they were, even though they had their faults, they were filled in with gold and these golden scars added to the living story and the value of the container. The cracks that were filled in with gold increased the value of objects more than if they were broken before.

Kintsugi can be seen as a powerful metaphor for human resilience. In our lives, we all experience moments of pain, loss, sorrow, and trauma, that can leave us emotionally wounded. However, like Kintsugi, we can choose to repair those wounds and transform them into something meaningful and beautiful.

Symbolically the repaired cracks of pottery represent the healing process; Just like any genuine process of healing this golden repair requires that we first acknowledge and carefully study the exact bolts and divisions that damage the sacred vessels in our own lives. And then it is up to us to determine what gold means to each of us. When I examine my own life, I know my family and my friends are my gold, filling me up with their love, joy, and their attention. And that is always how I heal, in the frequency of love and joy.

It doesn’t matter if you are facing a disease, surgery, a lost job, or a broken relationship please find your kintsugi – your gold and fill your life with that. You will heal the broken aspects of your life and be whole again. Allow your own kintsugi to inspire you, and to embrace the flaws and setbacks as a part of life.

Remember that Leonard Cohen lyric that I love so much – “There’s a crack and everything that’s how the light gets in.”