Mono no aware is a feeling that was articulated hundreds of years ago in Japan, but has spread as a concept around the world since then. It’s the poignant realization of the ephemeral nature of all things, no matter how dear they are to our hearts.
Mono no aware has some similarity to the feeling of yugen, but with an additional awareness of transience. Its classic expression is in the annual appreciation of cherry blossoms, which, as lovely as they are, are only present for a few days. The petals flutter to the earth to rejoin the soil in even the slightest breeze. There is beauty in their falling for just a few moments. Then, it is over.
The heart is stirred in the experience of mono no aware not just by the observation of the object of passing beauty right in front of our eyes, but more deeply by the realization that, in their own scale, everything is ephemeral. The universe itself will eventually fade into nothing. Knowing that we can hold on to nothing enhances the worth of what we have before us in the moment.
