There is a crack in everything
Many years ago when I was first learning to knit, I was constantly dismayed at my many mistakes. Around that same time, I was traveling to New Mexico and I had occasion to meet a Native weaver in Taos. We shared our love of textiles and crafting, and I opened up about my many mistakes. He brought out one of his amazing rugs and showed me where he had left an intentional error….he said “that is how the spirit’s move in and out, mistakes are a gateway for them.” In other words – what looks imperfect is actually perfect.
It never occurred to me that mistakes are where we can find new ideas – new connections – and yes movement of creativity and spirit. I have spent many years aiming at some idea of perfection – trying to even define what that is…and I have annoyed many a co-worker with my definition rather than knowing that something new comes through what looks like an imperfect situation. Realizing that perfection is in the seeming imperfection is something I often must remind myself of – perhaps especially in these times where we see a lot of it…and at the same time it carries the promise of beauty, of harmony, of radical change.
Probably the greatest poet/songwriter of my time was Leonard Cohen – who wrote songs he took twenty years to complete and let’s face it …had a less that perfect voice to sing them with …and yet there was something so magical and memorable about his music and the man himself…and he never let the sound of his voice inhibit his great gift. The song included in this blog says it all…there is a crack in everything and that is how the light gets in. This week forget your perfect offering and allow the light no matter the so-called error…therein lies the already perfect.
These two women’s voices give Leonard’s song both depth and love.
Enjoy!
