Wabi Sabi for a Perfectly Imperfect Zettelkasten

Edmund

We have entered the new year 2025. Within the first few days of the year, a new note found its way into my Zettelkasten. It's nothing spectacular, it's a note about a key term I came across by chance. It's a reference to "wabi sabi"[1] from the traditional Japanese aesthetic, which centres on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as an appreciation of beauty [2] that is "imperfect, transient and incomplete" in nature. A concept that could help to improve my Zettelkasten?

Using Feynman's "12-question method" [3], where I keep a dozen of my favourite problems constantly in mind, I am testing the new concept of wabi sabi on one of my twelve problems, the improvement of my Zettelkasten, to see if it helps.

Let's have a look at six of the principles of wabi sabi:

1. Impermanence
   Everything is transient and subject to change. Celebrating the fleeting nature of life and objects, such as the changing seasons.

2. Imperfection
   Embraces flaws and irregularities as a source of beauty. Rejects the pursuit of perfection in favor of authenticity.

3. Incompleteness
   Celebrates things that are unfinished or open-ended. Allows for growth, change, and personal interpretation.

4. Simplicity
   Focuses on minimalism, avoiding excess or clutter. Highlights the essence of an object or idea.

5. Asymmetry
   Prefers irregular shapes and designs over symmetry and uniformity. Reflects nature's unpredictable patterns.

6. Forces of nature
   Accepting life's imperfections and finding peace in the transient nature of existence.

Do these principles resonate with my ideas about my future Zettelkasten? Yes, indeed. Here are my first ideas:

• Impermanence: Periodically I return to older notes, appreciating how they’ve "aged" or evolved in relevance. I update them as needed, but retain their original context.

• Imperfection and Incompleteness: I want to allow my notes to remain incomplete or rough. My focus is on capturing the essence of an idea rather than perfect phrasing.

• Simplicity: I want to limit the use of unnecessary fonts, colors, icons or plugins in my Zettelkasten to maintain clarity.

• Asymmetry: I want to keep a personalized note style to let each note reflect my natural thought process rather than adhering strictly to uniform formats.

• Forces of nature: I want to work with my natural energy cycles rather than forcing productivity. I trust that my Zettelkasten will grow in alignment with my curiosity and needs.

What are your ideas and critics of applying wabi sabi principles to a Zettelkasten?

References
[1] Kemoton, Beth. Wabi Sabi - Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life, Piatkus Little, Brown Book Group, London 2018.
[2] Fast, Sascha. Forum Zettelkasten, https://zettelkasten.de/posts/creative-technique-within-zettelkasten-framework/
[3] Rota, Gian-Carlo. Ten Lessons I Wish I Had Been Taught, Notices of the AMS, Volume 44, Number 1, p.25, 1979.

RedShirt_TX

I like it! I apply the tenets of Zen Buddhism (which I think is the source of the Wabi Sabi wisdom) to my activities in the PKM realm. Early on, I overly structured my notes and had the distracting urge to "complete" notes (add tags, links, etc.)-- even when their value was questionable and my interests had changed. Now, I only polish imperfect notes when brought back to them by circumstance. I also add information to the bottom of notes as 'retrospective entries' (with date/time) instead of changing the content of the note -- which helps me tie the new thinking to the ever-evolving context.

Thank you for linking this concept to Zettelkasten so concretely. I'm thinking through Simplicity, Asymmetry, and Forces of Nature now.

Edmund

Thanks for your motivational comment. My post is about a concept, your comment is about the application. And I'm sure there is no easy way from being a perfectionist to using Wabi Sabi in everyday life.

Maybe you have some helpful ideas for this transition. I am still a beginner who wants to learn.

dylanjr

@RedShirt_TX said:
the distracting urge to "complete" notes (add tags, links, etc.)-- even when their value was questionable and my interests had changed.

I also run into this problem in my own "zettel journey". The solutions you implement sound reasonable to me.

As an improvising musician (with some mediation experience), I enjoy considering how these ideas (esp. impermanence and imperfection) tie in with zettelkasten. Live music is esp. transient. The note is gone the very moment after you play it. Those sound waves will never interact in quite the same way again. Different musicians, venues, audiences, even subtle differences in physical properties like humidity and temperature all contribute to live music's highly impermanent nature. No two live shows are ever the same. There are fundamental issues regarding the "permanent" nature of recorded music as well. Suffice it to say, the ideal of "permanence" is antithetical to both live and recorded music. Music history, as well, is a constantly evolving sequence of changing musical processes.

Linking these concepts to the zettelkasten process seems beneficial. Thanks @Edmund !

RedShirt_TX

@Edmund A tangential idea about Incompleteness -- As a 'digital' zettelkasten-er * I feel completely comfortable making notes that only have titles and links to sources/context. The essence is the title! My titles are usually statements/questions. My ability to tolerate Incompleteness might be entirely different if I were leafing through a box of index cards with only titles.

(*Slip-boxer?... I've successfully made both German and English speakers cringe.)

Jan_Hacke

I love Eastern life concepts. It's also inspiring to me how you put the concept of Wabi Sabi in your Zettelkasten.

I bougth the German audiobook and I started to listen to it, because I will no longer embrace the concept of Tsundoku(Buying books without reading them)

ZettelDistraction

1. I have wasabi (わさび) with my Zettelkasten.
2. Being a part-time hikikomori (時々引きこもりです) helps with Zettelkasten maintenance.
3. My Zettelkasten is too imperfect for wabi sabi to apply, but I appreciate the syncretic perspective.

Will

@ZettelDistraction, wipe your chin! The lingo, the big words, you sent me to the dictionary not once, but twice.
1. You're too old to be the typical hikikomori. You don't live in your mom's basement. We're just two old curmudgeons.
2. My ideas about the phrase "syncretic perspective" were mixed up until I found that it meant mixed up.

Will

Here’s how the principles of wabi-sabi resonate with my ZK:

• Impermanence/Evolution: Notes are not static but living entities. Change is inevitable.
• Imperfection and Incompleteness: Notes are meant to be "permanently useful" and open for Bayesian improvement and revision.
• Simplicity/Unadorned Functionality: Reduce complexity in your note-taking and make the process as simple as possible.
• Asymmetry: Recognize that the note-taking process matches your temperament. Emphasis the natural, emergent order over rigid, pre-set structures.
• Forces of Nature/Have Fun: Accept the inherent unpredictability of growth. Work on notes that are fun and exciting rather than forcing yourself to work on something that isn't.

References
@ZettelDistraction & Terence Tao An idle conversation around declaring PKM bankruptcy and starting over — Zettelkasten Forum

ZettelDistraction

@Will said:
@ZettelDistraction, wipe your chin!

「わさび」kemosabe!

andang76

Having been inspired from the very beginning by the evolutionary nature of the Evergreen notes of Any Matushack, the first three properties (impermanence, incompleteness, imperfection) are just natural in my zettelkasten. Notes, Ideas, Points, Zettels, are living entities.
My ghost in the box lives thanks to them, too, same dynamic of Edmund...

Over time I have learned to appreciate the pursuit of simplicity. Most of my efforts at some point were to simplify the process, not complicate it further.

Asymmetry is rather controversial. Adopted in some cases, but Simmetry has real values in others.

• simmetry is an effective path for simplify.
• the desire to bring asymmetry towards symmetry is a notable evolutionary force
  Need both, actually

Forces of Nature... maybe:

• Entropy
• Antifragility
• Serendipity
• Emergence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence)
• Taking Inspiration from others rather than accepting rules
• the same things of Edmund and Will, good catches :-)