Apr
11th
Wed
11th
Mono-no-aware means literally “the pathos of things”, also translated as “an empathy toward things”, or “a sensitivity to ephemera”, is a Japanese term used to describe the awareness of impermanence, or the transience of things, and a gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing. — (Wiki)
“Mono means things, and aware comes from the ancient Japanese exclamation ‘Ah(a)!’. In early Heian times (794-1185) aware became a noun designating a profound and individual emotion that one experiences in communion with the transient beauty of a person, an event, a natural object or a work of art. Aware is sometimes called the ‘ah!-ness of things’ you feel when confronted with beauty and at the same time are conscious of the transience or incompleteness of this beauty. Aware transcends the feelings of sadness and joy and merges these into a new, profound emotion. (…)
In the 12th and 13th centuries Southern France saw the troubadours turning their feelings of love, what they called fin’amor, into exquisite poetry. The basis of fin’amor was an emotion called joy. Joy caused an ecstatic experience in which the lover appreciated simultaneously the happiness as well as the sadness, the gaiety as well as the pains, of loving. The same is true for ‘mono no aware’, where an object, person or situation can cause a feeling encompassing happiness as well as sadness, and where experiencing both elements is essential to the emotion. When one experiences fin’amor one forgets all about oneself. One can live life without the obstructions from one’s self-created ego and enjoy every component of one’s emotions, be they happy or sad.”
— Mono no Aware - A Sensitivety to Things
