The Beauty of the Broken

Kintsugi is a Japanese art form meaning to join with gold. Artisans use gold to repair broken pottery. Rather than discarding these broken pots, they are transformed into new, beautiful works of art. The cracks become part of the artwork. This artwork embodies the philosophy that brokenness and imperfection are part of our world. They have the potential to make us whole.

According to Jewish tradition, God created several worlds before ours. These were discarded like artists discard their first, second and even third attempts. When God creates our world God decides to let stand despite its imperfections. One of these cracks in our world is what causes us continued pain. Human beings are given to doing terrible things. They bring evil to our world, others and themselves.

God knows this. God sees this. God lets it continue.

One way to read the Bible is to see it not as description of our spiritual journey but instead as God’s. It is about God coming to terms with the world’s imperfections. That journey is marked by fits and starts. One such fit is the story of Noah and the flood. The Torah states, “The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with violence. God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.’” (Genesis 6)

God then shatters the world.

The mystics believed that when God created the world divine sparks of light were trapped in broken vessels. These powerful lights energize evil. God withdraws from creation, making room for us to engage in religious acts, to repair this brokenness. We must perform tikkun olam, repair of the world, to banish these shards of evil.

When the flood waters recede, God sees the world’s beauty anew. God seizes on creation’s potential. “The dove came back to Noah toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf!” (Genesis 8)

Peace remains possible!

There will always be cracks.

It is not about ignoring them or most especially discarding them. It is instead about acknowledging these imperfections and making them a part of an even more beautiful whole.

This is what God comes to realize. It is what we must also come to understand.

Repair is in our hands.