Presented at The Innovative Library Classroom 2015, May 12, 2015

2. To enjoy good taste we only have to
decide for ourselves what good sense
is.
-- Jean de la Bruyere as paraphrased by Donald
Richie

3. The struggle:
Do you teach students what they need
to know with the foresight that [it] will
blossom into a romantic awareness?
Or do you teach the romantic viewpoint
and hope that a love of the idea of the
subject evolves into a fascination with
the parts that make it operate?
-- S.
Johnson

4. The best [pathways] always connect
nowhere with nowhere and have an
alternate that gets you there quicker…
the main skill is to keep from getting
lost.
-- R. Pirsig

5. Searching is often
nonlinear and iterative
Learners:
• exhibit mental flexibility and creativity
• are persistent
• suspend judgment on value until the larger context is
better understood
• are adaptable, flexible, and recognize ambiguity is
beneficial
• synthesize ideas

6. Instruction is imperfect…
Students are imperfect…
Assignments are imperfect…

7. Japanese aesthetics is…
a net of associations composed of
listings or jottings, connected
intuitively, that fills in a background
and renders the subject visible.
-- D.
Richie

8. We should not strive for logical
conclusions. Rather, we ought to
define those perceptions and
variances…
through a style that conveys
something of the very uncertainty of
their description.
-- D. Richie

9. Follow the brush, allow it to lead.
It is the dismissal of linear
structure, the neglect of logical
method that allows this progression.
--
D.Richie

10. Be more concerned with process
than with product…
with the actual construction of a self
than with self-expression.
-- D. Richie

11. Things as they are, or Nature itself.
Nature should be our model, we are
to regard it, to learn from it.
-- D. Richie

12. Sabi is an aesthetic term rooted in a
given concern – it is concerned with
chronology with time and its effects,
with product.
Wabi is a more philosophical
concept, a quality not attached
merely to a given object. It is
concerned with manner, with
process, with direction.

13. Wabi Sabi (侘寂)
finds beauty and harmony in what is
simple, imperfect, natural, modest,
and mysterious.
It can be a little dark, but it is also
warm and comfortable. It may best
be understood as a feeling, rather
than as an idea.
-- M.
Reibstein

14. Four Basic Tenets of Wabi Sabi
• Everything is in flux
• To embody and suggest
impermanence
• Peaceful contemplation of transience
• Appreciation brings holistic perspective
– A.
Juniper

15. Yūgen (幽玄)
An awareness of the universe that
triggers feelings too deep and
mysterious for words.
– H. Rheingold

16. An acceptance of the natural order of
things.
Learners understand: “yeah, it’s not
perfect, but it’s useful and this is
beautiful in and of itself.”