Our dinner plate has the picture of plum blossoms. My husband and I place the plate differently.
He teases me saying Japanese are weird.
We Japanese prefer asymmetry compared with Western tradition symmetry. For instance, the elements are commonly placed asymmetrically in a Japanese garden.
My former boss, a senior landscape designer, is influenced by Japanese garden. Once he explained the stone placement as if there was an invisible balance between the stones. Imagine you cut out a triangle board and place three stones, one on each point to balance them.
An equilateral triangle with same size pieces makes a symmetrical balance. The gravity point will be the dead center of the triangle.
With different size and shape pieces, however, you need to adjust the angle and length of each side of the triangle. There are endless variations of the combination. The location of the gravity point moves case by case.
We have many elements of life. Like the natural stone, each element has various ‘faces’ such as physical, emotional, ethical and spiritual need, want, fear and faith. They are likely unequal shape, size and weight. If you don’t know how to balance them, you fall down.
To balance, the triangle doesn’t have to be equilateral. The gravity point doesn’t have to be the dead centre. If you try to stand up straight faithfully believing it is the perfect figure, you will have to work very hard. You don’t allow yourself to put the weight on one leg and give the other some rest. You don’t sit down. As the result, you will get stressed and worn out easily.
There is nothing wrong to enjoy and appreciate the beauty of symmetry. On the other hand, you don’t need to keep yourself always symmetrical. You can be freely change the form and find the gravity point accordingly. Although the stones and triangle keep changing the size and shape, there is always some way to balance. If you have your gravity point within you, things naturally settle into the balance.
Be flexible.