kintsugi Heart philosophy

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, きんつぎ, "golden joinery"), also known as Kintsukuroi (金繕い, きんつくろい, "golden repair"), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Brokenness is a common human experience that we all can relate to on some level. It is a part of our greatest despair, and is also a factor in much of our greatest joy. Brokenness is the contrast in life that allows us to understand, appreciate, and desire wholeness.

We long to give our hearts away. We do it constantly throughout our lives to experiences, things, and other people. You can’t love something without giving your heart to it. A broken heart, however, is not in a state where it can be given over without high risk of further damage. The normal reaction is to just keep the pieces of our heart together in our own chest to protect it. Unfortunately, our hearts can’t be repaired with glue and lacquer. In fact, we can’t heal our hearts ourselves at all. We can only hold our hearts together long enough to scab over and scar, but true healing needs an outside touch.

Imagine a clay pot that falls and breaks into many pieces. To hide a broken heart is like picking up the broken pieces of that pot, holding it together in your hands, and declaring, “This pot is whole.” What the pottery actually needs to fulfill its created purpose is to be put back together and repaired. That involves giving the broken pieces up to the process of reparation. The thing about repaired objects is that the process of repair is usually apparent. What's so beautiful about a piece repaired by the kintsugi technique is that the flaws and cracks are highlighted and even celebrated. Making the whole history of the piece known is part of what makes it unique and beautiful.

Likewise, we should also display our own hearts in a way that shows our imperfections and history of brokenness. This not only lifts the burden of constantly hiding our “cracks”, but also allows restoration to become a part of our heart’s story. I like to call these stories of restoration, “Restories.” That shared experience of restoration not only strengthens our own hearts, but also the hearts of those around us who witness our renewed strength out of what was once broken. This reciprocal strength-giving deepens relationship, community, love, and purpose.

For me, the best source of restoration for the pottery is to return it to the hands of the potter. The best source of restoration for the human heart is to give it to the one who created it in the first place. A broken heart held together and restored by God is truly beautiful indeed.