Mono No Aware

Today is one of those days (they’ve happened before and no doubt they will come again) when I wake up to a disconcertingly relativistic experience of reality, where nothing feels solid and reliable or sound and trustworthy. I have the stabbing sense that everything I have struggled to express and…

I will not voiceless see off the dark In air which flows like ermine cloth Instead drown out the song of lark — — — Stead not as headsman somber stark The crowds and winds to I betroth To drift and leave no scent or mark — — — Unsheathed…

This week fight with impostor’s syndrome was harder than usual. I told myself some hard truth and listened to nice music sprinkled with breaking down behind closed doors. And if “screaming for you to define yourself” was a person, it would be this week too. This is how you know…

People who know me should have at least a surface level understanding of my love of sunrises and sunsets. I take an excessive number of sunset photos purely for my own enjoyment, and I wanted to try and explain why they captivate me so deeply. I think it’s amazing that…

Appreciate the fleeting days of spring! Have you heard of the term Mono No Aware? The concept originated in Japanese literature as early as the 1100s. During the 18th century, the idea spread through Japanese culture and became a tradition. The term means “ the pathos of things.” This term often implies sadness or a melancholy…

A Lesson learnt on one cold autumn night. — Moon. An allure of the night. The one that shines with full brilliance in the spangled skies. A muse that inspires the beholder of the sight to sing songs of its beauty. An enigma that awakens the subconscious realm of a person and evokes their repressed feelings to fly unfettered…

Sakura season comes to the Imperial Palace each year. The gentle scent, hue, swelling, blooming, and falling has a timeless elegance that stirs up something deep inside us. The tree bears so many wondrous flowers. The Japanese sensibility of mono no aware — the sad but beautiful transience of all…

What is and what isn’t, isn’t it.

Riding past the nearby graveyard late afternoon Wednesday, in the distance I could see a dozen or more people gathered at the plot that had been dug to receive the casket of the deceased. With the pandemic still a present danger, most of the people seemed to be at a…