Living as Kintsugi

I know the world is scary, I know it is hard and at times we seem destined for destruction, but what if these are growing pains, for us as a culture and for us individually? If this might possibly be true, then I ask, will you let it bring you closer to God/source/the one or yourself?

Will you drink from the holy water within? The space mystics and other spiritual paths speak about or will you turn into the chaos instead?

Chaos of one kind or another has existed as long as I have been living. According to some philosophies chaos is the one real truth. This concept sees chaos as the precursor to creation, and an aspect of existence.

I am not asking the question lightly, honestly it takes an unbelievable amount of courage to turn in to yourself as the world and your personal world seems to be cratering, but if you want to transcend it, it will require you to evolve, an personal evolution is an inward frontier.

This is not saying don’t take action, rather take internally guided action, listen to yourself and your higher power. If you don’t have a relationship with either, I am asking you to consider letting the situation grow you, and transform you in to a more human, human. Often it is in the hardest moments that we turn to a higher power. That was certainly my story, when I could no longer carry the load myself, I asked, I reached out finally. It was not easy. I was raised to be self-reliant, and my understanding of the all that is, God, was limited to a Southern preachers experience, which was certainly not mine.

And, when I finally did ask for help from the One Source, the divine brought me miracles through people, and avenues I did not even consider. The One Source’s imagination makes a way when there seems that there isn’t one. That doesn’t mean I was not in pain, and hurting. Yet with the help of my inner guidance system, therapy, self-help sections of bookstores, my life got easier. My pain lessened. And, as I turned inward and did my work I reached the space of inner calm, understanding and clarity. My experience was God brought me the right people, often at the right time. There is no name that can adequately describe the one source, the all that is, God, which is why I am using many.

I am not speaking to the story of God we are told as children, but rather to the divine flow that St. Teresa of Avila and other mystics speak about. There is a divine power that flows and operates through us and others, and in my experience it is in all living things. This is a divine force that is available if only we begin the process of seeking. The process of exploring the mystics path.

By the way, the first hint I will give you is that in my experience this force lives in you, you can form a relationship with it, and speak to it, perhaps not as St. Teresa of Avila may have, rather in a way that will be personal to you.

You don’t have to be a nun to find God, you do have to develop a practice of some sort, that can be your own that you create or one of the many available practices which are available; the key is practice and to turn inward to find it and to be with it. And to not give up when it doesn’t happen in your first ten attempts, keep trying.

My prayer for anyone walking this path is that the Angels help you find a path of healing that takes you to wholeness. Spiritual wholeness as I am using it means a deep sense of inner harmony and integration and you feel complete and connected to the sacred, yourself, and all life really. You are aligned with faith, character, and trust in the path. Once you reach wholeness your walk is different. Your stride takes on the knowing that you are connected and tethered to something much more knowing than yourself and that you are loved, as is.

My experience has been that as I have taken the hard things and dealt with them, as I have made friends with my own poor behaviors and shadows, I have developed into more than I was born into. I have been molded into a better human, much like the Japanese artwork referenced as Kintsugi. Kintsugi translates to “golden joinery”. Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, often creating something more beautiful than before it broke. It takes time to make fine humans. Those who have taken their pain and made alchemy have been reformulated by their setbacks, betrayals, losses, and challenges into a beautiful piece of artwork, a Kintsugi. A true living piece of art.

If a mystics path appeals to you, may you become Kintsugi in your own life.

© Copyright L. Kay Smith 2025