Spiritual Kintsugi asks us to imagine that what is broken in us, between us, and around us, can be repaired with Love — strong, steady, golden Love. But if we are going to mend anything in this world, we must learn how to provide for the work of repair. In my last Substack, I began to explore The Possibilities of Spiritual Kintsugi. Provision is the second P in our Spiritual Kintsugi Path.
We live in a world that keeps breaking. Families fracture. Communities fray. Fear is marketed as a product. Scarcity is preached as common sense. And yet, if we are going to heal anything, we must learn to gather the resources — spiritual and material — that make repair possible.
The Five Ps of Spiritual Kintsugi Peace (Kintsugi 1):
- Possibilities — the first glimmer of gold, the moment we realize repair is possible (Kintsugi 2.).
- Provision: the resources – spiritual and material – that make repair possible
- Persistence: steadily holding pieces – old and new – together long enough to allow a bond to set and heal.
- Purpose: the reminder that we repair because the vessel still has meaning.
- Peace: the restored bowl, even more beautiful because it was broken.
This Substack focuses on Provision; the gold that makes the glue is not only strong and utilitarian, it also makes the Possibilities we’re building more beautiful.
What Provision Really Means
Provision is not just money. It is the commitment to make repair possible — in ourselves, in our communities, and in the world. It is the spiritual practice of saying: “I will help make sure there is enough: enough time, enough care, enough courage, enough resources. And perhaps most importantly: enough imagination to transform this problem into Possibility!
Provision is the opposite of scarcity thinking. Scarcity says, “There isn’t enough.” Provision rolls up its sleeves and says, “We can make enough together. How willing are you to help?”
What Doesn’t Work
We cannot build Peace on the foundations of a war economy, where profits are concentrated in the hands of the warmongers, and losses are widespread affecting people in all countries. Compounding the problem, reinvestment in affected communities has all but disappeared. Immediately after WWII, the American government responded to inequities, at least in white communities, with housing tracts, the GI Bill, VA loans. Substantial investments were made to rebuild the US economy. These were balanced with the Marshal Plan abroad. Today we see something entirely different. Our administration is content to deliver scarcity rather than abundance, as wealth and profit are concentrated in the hands of the few rather than equitably distributed among the many. They’ve learned that Fear is profitable, hopelessness is profitable, division is profitable. None of that will ever produce Peace. They don’t want Peace. But we do. So, it’s up to us to find new ways forward.
What Does Work
What has always worked — in wars, disasters, pandemics, and ordinary hard times — is sharing: people feeding one another, housing one another, helping to pay one another’s debts, and stepping in where systems fail.
We see it everywhere:
- Mutual aid groups meet immediate needs with astonishing speed.
- Medical debt relief frees families from despair for pennies on the dollar.
- Undies for Everyone and similar groups provide very basic dignity to children in crisis.
- Bail funds free people jailed and kept incarcerated simply because they are poor.
- Philanthropists like MacKenzie Scott shift billions toward communities long denied resources, and the differences are palpable.
These are all forms of Provision — this is golden glue in action.
And here’s the truth: most of us don’t have billions, But all of us have something: a few dollars, a few hours. A skill. A connection. A willingness. All provision is not heroic. It is communal. It gains ground slowly until suddenly momentum happens. What started the ball rolling was a simple ask. Finding ways to source the golden glue is Spiritual Kintsugi.
For Those Who Don’t Know How to Help
Many people care deeply but don’t know how or where to begin providing support. They feel too isolated, too uncertain, too overwhelmed. Let me say this plainly: You don’t have to fix everything. You have only to help repair one crack at a time. In most cases, provision is not accomplished by grand gestures. It comes about through steady, ordinary generosity.
So, give where you can. Support what aligns with your heart. Join with friends to make a bigger impact. Choose one place to begin. Peace is built from people’s many small acts of golden glue. Our small acts.
And we can call on the money-wise. There are those who understand money — bankers, fund managers, accountants, financial planners. There are people who can read a spreadsheet the way others read a poem. Wonderful people, we need you.
If we don’t like what we see in the world — together, we have the skills to help build something different. The idea of a Peace economy is not naïve. It is necessary to the Earth’s and to Humanity’s well-being. It will take people who understand how resources move, how systems work, and how to sustain what matters. All our gifts are part of the golden glue.
The Hard Part: Maintaining What Is Necessary for Peace
Provision requires determination. Not only generosity, but also commitment. Peace movements don’t fund themselves. Mutual aid doesn’t sustain itself. Spiritual Kintsugi doesn’t happen without people willing to invest — time, money, imagination, courage.
But I think warmongers underestimate the coalitions that are building. These coalitions cross lines, joining communities who have never connected. Peacemakers have a lot more education than we had in earlier times. There are more people trained in economics, community organizing, philanthropy, and justice work. More people who know how to build structures that endure —held together as they are by golden glue.
My Friends, we can do this. This golden glue does require money. Together, we can amass that. Together, we have more courage to stand up — and more ideas about how to go about it. If we focus on small steps, we’ll soon be taking big ones — together. We will repair. We will rebuild. Most importantly, we will build something new and beautiful and connected in Peace.
An Invitation to Provide
Spiritual Kintsugi invites us to awaken to what is broken and imagine how Love — golden, steady, deliberate — might help us repair and reshape our world. What if we strengthened what is already working? What if we invested in what is already healing? What if we believed a more perfect union is possible — one built on humanity, decency, inclusion, and joy? What connections are you making? How will you move Peace forward?
Possibilities allow us to take the first steps toward Peace. Provision shares the bounty and makes space for all who are set on Peace. It makes space for them to join the community in Providing the needed support.
The golden glue enables these dreams of repair and rebuilding possible. Let’s become the gold and the glue and start filling in the cracks.
More to Come
In future Substack articles, I’ll explore Persistence, Purpose, and Peace — the remaining steps in becoming Kintsugi artists in a world longing to be made whole.
For now, look for the glimmers of gold.
Find the places where repair is already happening.
Provide what you can.
Join the movement and take your place in the work.
Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be.
With Love, Ann
*Kintsugi – the Japanese art of repairing pottery with golden glue – teaches that cracks are not flaws to hide, but places where beauty can emerge.
Salaam, Shalom, Peace, and Blessed Be!