The art of repair and reshaping

    Kintsugi is the act of repairing broken pottery with gold. The act of honoring, embracing, and celebrating the misfortunes, accidents, and struggles of life. It is a state of Zen that Siddhartha found by the end of the book and one we discussed in a harkness discussion in class. 

    As mentioned in class, it seems that to find enlightenment or inner peace, one must go through suffering. In order to find what he sought, Siddhartha had to suffer the loss of his son. Consequently, he realized that by letting go of his son he had let him grow into his own journey of grief were he would find his own enlightenment, ultimately turning a bitter detachment into a moment of learning. This is the moment Siddhartha turned his fragmented father-son relationship into a new masterpiece of hope, embracing the situation as what it was-improvement.

Suffering seems to come with a sense of peace even in stories like Across the Spider-verse. 

Much like Siddartha and his son's estrangement, Gwen Stacy's fall-out with her dad that led her to leave her dimension followed a similar path of silent suffering.

Although it seemed like their separation might have brought nothing but regret, when Gwen decided to go back home she found a space of forgiveness, understanding, and relief. Due to their time away and his own self-reflection, her dad had stepped down from a captain position-rewriting his story and saving his life. From the suffering they both endured, the broken pieces of their relationship grew an unbreakable bond of gold, and ultimately was a turn for the better.

In sports, school, and my personal life, it is often hard for me to focus on anything but the negatives. Didn't beat my record. Didn't score how I wanted. Didn't go as I planned. And when you start getting obsessed about the cracks it really does seem like its time to just throw the whole pot away. However, my personal goal this semester is going to be to try and find the positive in my negatives and get out of my head every once in a while. Maybe do some yoga. Listen to the pool water (maybe it will laugh at my overthinking).


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