Ma: Japanese Wisdom for a Spacious Life
About this ebook
ma 間 (noun): space; pause; gap; distance; interval
Wind whispers in the pines, calling us into the space between things.
This kind of space, an essential aspect of Japanese culture and aesthetics, is easier to point to than define.
It is found in the pulsating whiteness around the ink-black forest of a sumi-e painting.
In the silence between notes that makes the music.
In the pause that deepens connection, and gives us room to breathe.
MA is a meditation on the essential nature of space in a human life, within the places that we live and the flow of time we are alive.
Join Japanologist Beth Kempton for a thoughtful, inspiring exploration of ma through art, architecture, animation, philosophy and travel, and discover how ma can be a doorway to meaning, wisdom and beauty.
As the pace of modern living continues to accelerate, this will be a balm for every weary soul, offering respite from the noise and simple tools to make each day feel more spacious.
Everything is waiting in the space in between.
'This is a book of love, of longing, of living. MA speaks tender truth to all the moments in between in ways I will carry with me always. The humility, humanity and hope held in these pages is a gift. A gorgeous, vital book.'
- Kerri ní Dochartaigh, author of Cacophony of Bone
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About the author
Beth Kempton is a Japanologist and bestselling author of six non-ficDon books which have
been translated into 28 languages. Her best known book WABI SABI - which explores a
similar mix of aesthetics, wellbeing and culture as MA will - has sold nearly 400,000 copies
worldwide.
Beth has two degrees in Japanese including a Masters in Interpreting and Translation, and considers Japan her second home. Beth has won the Sir Peter Parker Award for Spoken Business Japanese, and has been a contributing editor to a Japanese-English dictionary. She has a vast network of contacts in Japan going back three decades, and carries out all of her own research and interviews.
Beth is also founder of Do What You Love which has delivered life-changing personal development classes to more than 100,000 people, with an addiDonal 40,000+ taking her online writing classes. She is also a qualified yoga teacher and Reiki Master.
