The Worry of Spoiling Mystery
Alan Watts wrote about the incessant urge to explore mysteries to their end, thus spoiling the sense of wonder. For instance, seeing a passage in the woods, wondering where it goes, following the trail, only to be disappointed by the barren parking lot it leads to.
I think there is some wisdom in letting things be a mystery, savoring that intrigue... There isn’t always a need to know precisely. I have found myself actually being hesitant to dive deeper into learning certain things in the past, so as to reserve spaces of mystification to visit.
For example, I find watching anime in Japanese without understanding the language to be a peculiarly enjoyable experience, hanging onto more of the emotion in the voice acting. The written language of Japanese is also quite aesthetically pleasing and I’ve worried that in learning what these symbols actually mean, the site of them may grow mundane.
Coinciding with this, the lead developer of the Elden Ring video game mentioned how he took inspiration from the mystification he felt in observing English words before he understood what they mean. There was a certain vibe to them he felt, which he essentially tried to carry into the world he created—branching out from that feeling.
When I read about this, I resonated, as that’s quite precisely how I feel about and value being mystified by languages I have yet to understand. That space of undecided meaning leaves room for imagination to reveal and insert what it seeks.
However, I have realized that it is actually possible to return to a mystical sense of the language I know so thoroughly, shedding the mundane perceptions, disconnecting the distasteful connotations. It’s a perceptual reinvigoration of beholding the weight and sacredness that words can have — like realizing how profoundly true that cliche you’ve heard a thousand times and brushed off actually is. It’s a matter of the experiences you associate with the words, not the words themselves.
Going beyond the example of language, I find that there is far more visceral and grounded amusement to be had in developing lucidity of reality. There is actually often some tangent between the blanketing imagined explanation of things and the finer details. We are seeing this as scientific discoveries continue to reveal what has been intuitively understood long before.
“Magic” often fills the space of a lack of explanation.
It’s a charming sensation to wonder.
However, exploring intricate details and figuring out how things actually work is often far more profound than any previously held assumption or imagining. Wonder has safe passage to transform and expand in the truth.
Learning music theory has not spoiled my enjoyment of making music, but actually intensified it with deeper understanding of my intuitions...
Learning other languages gives me different ways of seeing and interpreting the world around me. Learning the sounds and meanings of characters allows me to hold them with more weight and relevance...
And the most exciting part of such exploration is the evolution of wonder.
The edges of mystery extend further, the more we reveal.
This relates to people as mysteries as well. There is some magic to the curated presentations of performers, artists, actors...
There can often be a sense of diminished fascination in discovering more of their flaws and the messy mundanity of the preparation that evolves into what is publicly displayed.
However, I think bearing witness to the truth of everything behind the curtain makes the spectacle all the more inspiring--to realize how that transcendental expression is born from flawed humans gradually sorting through a confusing mess.
