On Old Shawls and Wabi-Sabi

Illustration of Owl by Ernest Shepard

“Kanga was down below trying the things on, and calling out to Owl, ‘You won’t want this dirty old dish-cloth any more, will you, and what about this carpet, it’s all in holes,’ and Owl was calling back indignantly, ‘Of course I do! It’s just a question of arranging furniture properly, and it isn’t a dish-cloth, it’s my shawl.’”

Recent days have found me reading Benjamin Hoff’s The Te of Piglet. While quite a lovely book in countless ways, I do have one other point of interest to raise here (admittedly a rambling, but nonetheless worthwhile, I think).

Towards the end of the book, the above scene from the Pooh tales is recounted, this is to say, the scene where Owl is moving his belongings from one home to another. Hoff notes that Owl and the state of his dwelling place and belongings are perhaps analogous to the dilapidation of modern society.

I derived from the story something different than this. To the contrary, I was decidedly delighted and captivated by the quip. Why? Perhaps it is simply because I find the image of Owl in a tattered shawl to be an endearing one. But perhaps it is because this one little statement, “it isn’t a dish-cloth, it’s my shawl” evokes what to me is a very Taoist ideal: wabi-sabi, which is variably defined as something along the lines of “the beauty inherent in imperfection.”

Who is to say a shabby, shaggy shawl isn’t even more desirable than one that is still crisp and new? After all, its holes are reflective of its wear and usefulness through the days and years of one’s life. Oftentimes, articles of clothing become even softer with wear. Why turn in the old and threadbare’s trustiness for something new, so long as it still serves its purpose well enough? Furthermore, why not acknowledge that we often recognize a sweet charm anyway in that which has been an earnest part of days gone by?

So may such standards be swept away once again by the delight of tattered dish-cloth shawls.

Image obtained from https://alteredbits.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/blog-hop-and-book-review-give-away-wabi-sabi-art-workshop-by-serena-barton/