Episode 411: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Haejin Shim & Mako Fujimura, "The Fractures Filled with Gold"

Restoring the Soul with Michael John Cusick

Restoring the Soul with Michael John Cusick
Episode 411: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Haejin Shim & Mako Fujimura, "The Fractures Filled with Gold"
Aug 10, 2026 Season 17 Episode 411
Michael John Cusick

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold — not to hide the damage, but to make the fractures the most beautiful part. Mako Fujimura, one of the world's leading contemporary artists, and his wife Haejin, an attorney and founder of Embers International, have built their lives and work around that image. This conversation is about what it actually looks like to believe it.

Mako talks about his own experience of 9/11 as a Ground Zero resident, and why he sees making — painting, writing, building an organization — as an act of invoking new creation in the middle of darkness. Haejin talks about the women and children her team serves in Mumbai's red light district, and why Kintsugi is the only metaphor honest enough for what restoration means there. They also talk about what the pandemic revealed about who a society actually depends on, why Jesus chose to appear after the resurrection as a wounded human, and what it means that the Kintsugi master doesn't begin mending until he can see beauty in the fragments.

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Episode Artwork Episode 411: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Haejin Shim & Mako Fujimura, "The Fractures Filled with Gold" 53:44 Episode Artwork Episode 410: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Dan Allender, "The Story You Haven't Told" 40:05 Episode Artwork Episode 409: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Dan Allender, "None of Us Gets a Pass, Part 1" 27:53 Episode Artwork Episode 408: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Brad Jersak, "The God Who Never Looks Away" 43:22 Episode Artwork Episode 407: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Curt Thompson, "The Look That Sees You" 30:47 Episode Artwork Episode 406: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Curt Thompson, "You are Dirt and Breath" 39:19 Episode Artwork Episode 405: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Chuck DeGroat, "The Nine Faces of Narcissism" 47:45 Episode Artwork Episode 404: Brian Zahnd, "Why Heaven Has Gone Missing from the Church" 42:39 Episode Artwork Episode 403: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Sheila Wray Gregoire, "The Great Sex Rescue" 45:21 Episode Artwork Episode 402: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Aundi Kolber, "Try Softer, Part 2" 32:20 Episode Artwork Episode 401: SOUL CARE SUMMER - Aundi Kolber, "Try Softer, Part 1" 33:05 Episode Artwork Episode 400 - Dr. Gary Chapman, "The Love Language That Matters Most" 26:09 Episode Artwork Episode 399 - Ken Shigematsu, "How To Become Yourself" 52:25 Episode Artwork Episode 398 - Michael John Cusick, "The Temptation of Jesus and Your Attachment" 34:23 Episode Artwork Episode 397 - Geoff Holsclaw, "Your Attachment Style Shapes How You See God" 1:03:45 Episode Artwork Episode 396 - Liz Hall, "Find Meaning In Suffering" 1:01:13 Episode Artwork Episode 395 - Jay Stringer, "How Our Deepest Longings Shape Love, Healing, and Transformation" 1:08:06 Episode Artwork Episode 394 - Brian Lee, "From Broken to Beloved: A Journey through Spiritual Healing" 52:09 Episode Artwork Episode 393 - Safe and Secure: Attachment Styles, Boundaries, and Spiritual Healing 39:16 Episode Artwork Episode 392 - Michael John Cusick, "Understand Safety and Boundaries in Attachment Relationships" 31:22 Episode Artwork Episode 391 - Ericka Anderson, "Freely Sober: Exploring Christian Perspectives on Alcohol" 30:29 Episode Artwork Episode 390 - Mark Batterson, "Gradually Then Suddenly" 36:09 Episode Artwork Episode 389 - Jay Stringer, "The Civil War of Desire: Exploring Longings, Growth, and Healing" 44:39 Episode Artwork Episode 388 - Michael John Cusick, "Exploring Sacred Attachment: Parenting, Healing, and Connection" 34:46 Episode Artwork Episode 387 - Michael John Cusick, "Exploring Sacred Attachment: Seen, Soothed, Safe, and Secure" 34:30