Something Understood

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Religion & Ethics

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life

Ethical and religious discussion that examines some of the larger questions of life, taking a spiritual theme and exploring it through music, prose and poetry

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Something Understood: Mending Cracks with Gold

Mending Cracks with Gold

BBC Radio 4 - Something Understood, Mending Cracks with Gold

Celebrating damage - learning from kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.

Samira Ahmed considers the value of damaged people and goods, drawing inspiration from the ancient Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold.

What can we learn from a broken teapot?
 
According to legend, when a 15th century shogun smashed his treasured pottery, Japanese artists repaired it with gold. Kintsugi, as the practice is known, gives new life to damaged goods by celebrating their frailty and history. Samira Ahmed considers how we might live a kintsugi life, finding value in the ‘cracks' - whether it's the scars showing how we have lived, finding new purpose through loss, or learning to love ourselves despite our flaws.
 
With readings from The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura, Haruki Murakami's After the Quake, and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - and music from Michio Miyagi, the Rolling Stones and Elizabethan composer, John Dowland.
 
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Jo Fidgen
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.


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