A wallpaper to celebrate the beauty of imperfection.

For a few years now I've been obsessed with a lot of the things about Japanese culture. Not in a "weeb" sense, but in a deep appreciation for the very traditional aspects of their culture and lifestyle. One of my favorite things about it is the concept of "wabi-sabi". To quote Wikipedia:

Wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics constituting a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete."

Western culture seems to be so hung up on perfect appearances both physically and mentally. A lot of time this seems to create more trouble than the imperfection it tries to deny. This is exactly why I appreciate wabi-sabi as much as I do. It tells people to accept the fact that things are not perfect. People and things break and they need mending. It's okay to be broken and it's okay to need fixing. This cycle of breaking and fixing it was makes us who we are. It's what makes us stronger. Why would we want to deny this cycle? What do we have to gain by pretending everything is perfect? How many lives have been ruined by the belief that imperfection is ugly and only purity is beauty?

As a way of keeping me focused on this idea I decided to make a wallpaper (on a somewhat beat-up old MacBook Air) that highlights the characters for wabi and sabi. Whenever I log in to either of my computers at home I'm instantly greeted with this image and it helps me to slow down a little and think about how beautiful life is despite whatever crap I may have had to put up with during my day.