Time-lapsed transit. Public domain image courtesy of 1080plus.
Time-lapsed transit. Public domain image courtesy of 1080plus.

“It is harder than it used to be because everything has become speeded up and overcrowded. So everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. There is a grace in gardening.”

~ May Sarton, Journal of Solitude (p. 123)

Faceless mannequins. Image courtesy of Public Domain Images.
Faceless mannequins. Image courtesy of Public Domain Images.

Ms. Sarton went on to write that, “It all comes back to the fact that we are not asked to be perfect, only human.”

A house, for example, that’s too efficient and sanitized — that doesn’t have at least one shabby, comfie chair; some plants, a cat, books or some indication of an actual human being living there — is soulless, says Sarton.

In other words, that Stepford-esque perfectionism … that cookie-cutter cloning influence we see around us … is a soul-killing and thus soulless virus.

And it’s super-creepy, too. As John Trudell said, it’s part of the dominant culture that “eats your spirit.”

If we follow Ms. Sarton’s insight-thread here, then wabi-sabi or kintsukuroi imperfection … naturally expressed, rather than engineered for effect (which is also creepy) … is the soulful and humanity-stirring remedy.

Phew, right?

Perfectionism is such an exhausting and ultimately fruitless drag, as many of us who were conditioned with it and have since found some liberation from it know well. Such a relief to divest ourselves of it.

Cat in a field, by John Kovacic. Public domain license.
Cat in a field, by John Kovacic. Public domain license.

I wonder, as I write this stream-of-consciousness musing, whether perfectionism might be fairly considered a type of internalized spirit-eating energy and psychic vampirism. Hmmm. What’s your sense of it?

At the dark of the moon, it’s a fine time to let go of such things, or make an intention of it, anyway. To spark a more well alchemy into being.

‘Tis a process, to be sure, but no time like the present to begin or to refresh our dedication to these more humanity-honoring root-wisdoms and reclamations.

Slowing down a bit, feeling the roots, and letting grace and its reminders of who we truly are catch up to us, fill us and overflow out of us.

The inspired May Sarton has made a few other appearances in my Sophia’s Children musings. You’ll find them here … very inspiring, and timely nourishment.

Have a happy, wabi sabi new moon weekend. I’m wishing you well.

Big Love,

Jamie