海角社区

 

While people鈥檚 fascination with mystery drives research and the human quest for knowledge, few researchers study mystery itself as a shared thread across academic disciplines.

Enter Michelle Zerba and Chris Barrett, both professors in the 海角社区 Department of English. They鈥檙e spearheading 海角社区鈥檚 Mystery Project Collaborative with $10,000 in support from the 海角社区 Provost Fund for Innovation in Research, and eagerly ask:

鈥淲hat鈥檚 the most mysterious thing in your life?鈥� Barrett said. 鈥淭hat question is a great conversation starter.鈥�

From mystery cults in the Mediterranean Bronze Age, to cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence, the Mystery Project Collaborative seeks to explore, from multidisciplinary perspectives, how mystery motivates humans into action and discovery. More than 100 海角社区 faculty, staff and students from across the university are already actively participating in the project, and it鈥檚 clear why.

What鈥檚 the most mysterious thing in your life? That question is a great conversation starter.

Chris Barrett, associate professor, 海角社区 Department of English 

鈥淵ou quickly go to the heart of what it is we know about mystery, which is that it entices; it鈥檚 alluring,鈥� Zerba said. 鈥淭hink about the way mystery is used in marketing. You can sell the mysteries of romance, travel and the quantum universe, with its dark matter and dark energy.鈥�

Zerba, an expert in the classics and on themes that persist from antiquity to modernity, is working on a book, called Lightning in the Soul: Mystery, Secrecy, and the Occult in the Afterlives of the Ancient Mystery Cults. Meanwhile, Barrett, a scholar of early modern English literature, is writing a book about obviousness鈥攖he opposite of mystery鈥攁nd the way it negates curiosity. Her book is called The Forest for the Trees: Ecopoetics of the Obvious.

鈥淲hat does it mean to say something鈥檚 obvious?鈥� asked Barrett, hinting at a common cue of 鈥榙on鈥檛 bother鈥� or 鈥榡ust don鈥檛 go there.鈥� 鈥淏ut obviousness and mystery, or secrecy, kind of exist on the same continuum. They鈥檙e all ways of saying: this is something beyond interpretation, something it is hard to talk about.鈥�

There鈥檚 a reason why mystery is a grand genre of literature and such a consistent bestseller, Barrett argues.

鈥淵ou look at the New York Times list; people flock to mystery,鈥� Barrett said. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 a reason why we鈥檙e sort of drawn to people with mystique, which is a kind of leveraging of mystery for personal appeal.鈥�

Zerba describes mystery as the tipping point between the known and unknown.

鈥淢ystery is in this contrary state of knowing and not knowing, and also has a wide range of emotions attached,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes fear, sometimes curiosity. And the lure is the sense of needing to bring the unknown into the light of the known.鈥�

鈥淲hen you think about it, any intellectual or academic discipline is about finding out something that has not been known before,鈥� Barrett added. 鈥淲hich is to say the entire project of engaging in research or discovery or exploration is about unraveling mystery.鈥� 

This fall, Barrett and Zerba are coordinating a listening and learning tour with reading groups across the 海角社区 flagship campus, engaging faculty from the School of Music to the College of Engineering to lead conversations about the status of mystery in their own areas of work. Each conversation leader shares their own perspectives on mystery in discussion with a diverse internal audience. Mystery, the researchers agree, is a topic that brings scientists, humanists and artists together.

鈥淭o the traditional scholar, who admires logic and reason and whose whole profession is built on a foundation of enlightenment aspiration, the enduring nature of irrationality in an age of reason can seem disoriented and frustrating,鈥� said Joseph Givens, faculty in the 海角社区 College of Art & Design and director of the 海角社区 McNair Scholars Program, who leads one of the mystery reading groups. 鈥淎s I have explored the workings of mystery in the context of modern and contemporary art, I have discovered art movements that have been overlooked in the traditional art historical canon and it opened my mind to consider cultural contexts and philosophical underpinnings that were beyond what I have known. This experience has made me a more empathetic scholar and a more culturally competent person.鈥�

Givens has come to understand the traditional narrative of modernity as an 鈥渁spirational myth,鈥� rather than an accurate account of history. 

鈥淥ne need only review today鈥檚 headlines to confirm that the contemporary concerns of war, civil rights and even outer space are often interpreted by the public through the lens of irrational thought,鈥� Givens said. 鈥淚n the Surrealist Manifesto, surrealist founder Andr茅 Breton proposed surrealism as a way to express 鈥榯he actual functioning of thought鈥� in the absence of control exercised by reason.鈥� To Breton, this was a hope that a new, authentic reason could reign, and to me, the Mystery Project Collaborative is an amazing opportunity to have these conversations in a framework that traverses areas of study and levels of education. It is one of the most exciting experiences of my academic career.鈥�

 

Inessa Bazayev, professor of music theory in the 海角社区 School of Music and faculty senate president, whose reading group focused on the music of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, agreed.

鈥淭he Mystery Project Collaborative at 海角社区 has inspired us to reexamine and shed new light on our respective fields of study,鈥� Bazayev said. 鈥淪criabin鈥檚 music, for example, was driven by his so-called 鈥榤ystic chord,鈥� resulting in music that aimed to serve as an intense religious experience鈥攁lmost like a musical Armageddon.鈥�

鈥淲orking with the Mystery Collaborative allowed me to revisit this aspect of his music and connect it with broader concepts in theosophy, religion and mystery,鈥� Bazayev continued. 鈥淩ethinking Scriabin鈥檚 music challenged me to communicate his music and its profound meaning to a much broader audience鈥攕omething I rarely do in my discipline, which was exciting and deeply satisfying.鈥�
 
Beyond art and music, mystery also struck a chord鈥攐r code鈥攊n the Applied Cybersecurity Lab in the 海角社区 Center for Computation & Technology, led by Golden Richard, interim director of the 海角社区 Cyber Center and professor in the 海角社区 College of Engineering.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to remember, as we鈥檙e immersed in cybersecurity, that for the average person, it can be truly indistinguishable from magic for them,鈥� Richard said. 鈥淗ighly technical cybersecurity can be completely bewildering to the average computer user, so understanding how people deal with mysterious situations can ground us, as scientists, to help them navigate security concerns, since cybersecurity also connects with societal, behavioral and legal aspects.鈥�

Computer science and cybersecurity students also need to be trained to 鈥渆xpect the mysterious,鈥� Richard argues.

鈥淚n cybersecurity, the most obvious answer is rarely the correct answer,鈥� he said. 鈥淐yberattacks are stealthy and invisible, and in defending against them, we have to consider all options and treat things as mystery without jumping to conclusions until the full situation is understood. So, the Mystery Project Collaborative is helping to formalize something we do. We just weren鈥檛 calling it 鈥榯he mystery effect.鈥欌��

Barrett and Zerba have two upcoming projects. For 2024, they are planning a speaker series featuring high-profile thinkers and artists drawn from the fields of visual art, film, cryptography, quantum theory and comparative religion. From there, they will turn to organizing an international symposium on mystery and secrecy. Ultimately, their goal is to establish a first-in-the-world Mystery Studies Institute at 海角社区, which would support an integrated curriculum, ongoing research projects, publications, conferences and other mystery-oriented events for 鈥渕ysterians鈥� world-wide. 

Also, there has been talk of amulets.