Reflection

(File Last Modified Tues, Jan 28, 2003.)

• Perspective of the Mysteries

Perspective of the Mysteries

Sitting in my couch with a soda aside, only until I was picking my head up from the last page of this large blue hardcover book, I hardly noticed that my favorite show had long finished on the ``Great Altar''. I quickly looked around, realizing that the things that I use to see everyday all seem a little different, if not a sense of weirdness.

The book in my hand was Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay . First published in 1979, it has been on many people's favorite readings list for years, young and old. It is about how future archeologist interprets the site of a 20th century American motel - Toot'n'C'mon. In the year 1985, the North American civilization is wiped out by junk mails and frozen in debris for 2000 years. When an amateur archeologist of the 41-century accidentally found a well-preserved American motel, they believe the site was a sacred tomb, hence every discovery evolves based on this theory. The 'do not disturb' sign on the door knob is deemed as the sacred seal, the rooms are defined as outer and inner chambers, the television set becomes a the Great Altar for the God. The climax is the toilet interpreted as the focal point of the burial ceremony. Sarcastic allusions in this book are everywhere.

While this book keeps me smiling and chuckling through the whole time of reading, it is actually written in quite a strict and exaggerated scholarly fashion, which shows even greater sarcasm. Everything is well explained to form a fictional system with appendixes of labeled discoveries and even a catalog of souvenirs based on the excavated priceless treasures. The only touch makes it look less serious are the well-sketched illustrations by the author, which is perhaps the reason I found it in the juniors' aisle of the library. Even though, I don't see any reason preventing me from highly recommending this book to all my fellow 'adult' graduate students.

The shining point of Motel of the Mysteries lies outside the book itself. It totally leaves the thinking to the reader. How could Carson, the amateur archeologist in the book, be so wrong, but yet being able to construct an elaborative model of the 'ancient' religious system to interpret everything in a seemingly logical order? On second thought, perhaps it is totally inappropriate to ask this question right after reading this book.

Most research methods try to tackle the problem from a specific angle. Sometimes, the perspectives are so strong that the possibility of skewing the observation and analysis is no longer ignorable. Just as Carson's discovery is based on a presumption that the motel is a tomb, thus major items must be full of religious meanings. For example, despite of their obvious uses, drawers in the chest are deemed for offerings and water faucets must yield music. But Carson's analysis doesn't stop here. All small details are painted meaningful as well. Decorative spots on the shower cap are encrypted messages, water stains in the ceiling tiles must be meticulously painted, and the rarest mystery is the Sacred Point that is actually the folded tip of a toilet paper roll. Once the fundamental perspective was set, everything just starts to build upon it. Evidence is found according to the phony theories, and is used to prove the theory in another loop.

On the other hand, perspectives are inevitable. Researchers' background and training certainly plays a great role. As an amateur, Howard Carson definitely shows his limited archeological knowledge by making guesses and na?ve presumptions. The overall atmosphere of the specific study is also very important to affect the view, just as the belief widely held by the 4022's scholars that 'Yanks are highly religious in everything'. Moreover, personal interests, economic incentivesˇ­the list can go on and on.

In deed, perspectives are not that evil, but crucial to researches. Superficial facts can be deceptive. We need to broaden our horizon of observation to dig out the underlining truth. Take a step back from where we stand every now and then can give us more angles. If Carson takes the 'Great Altar' to check with a physicist maybe he'll help to reinvent the transistor. Or if he goes to a plumber that he'll know that water stains are just water stains. Mysteries solved.

Or would it be so easy? What's all wrong with one or two false theories? Without the pilot theories, how can subsequent researches find the errors and improve upon them? Well well, apparently this perspective of the perspective thing starts to stir my mind a bit after reading this book. David makes this book reflect more and more implications in our everyday life as the reader goes deeper and deeper. I'd better leave the rest of the detail to you for more inspirations and satires. But most certainly, you'll probably have totally different findings than mine. It's all perspectivesˇ­