Keep the Mythsteries Up

At the moment, I’m reading a decent book on most people’s favourite submerged island Atlantis.  With the advent of things like Google Earth and what not it seems more difficult to be romantic about such things these days, a lot of the mystery of exploration has been whittled away but who doesn’t love a good mystery, now and then.

Is ignorance, in this case, bliss, though?  It’s always great to speculate and dream about the wonders of the past or the universe or what not but isn’t the ending always a bit disappointing?

Take TV shows for example, It’s the magic of not knowing that keeps us hooked and wanting to follow the journey and speculate on forums or in the pub about where it’s all going and what can be ruled out.  I tend to find that the answer to most mysteries become a let down, no matter how well conceived the story, it is done with and I long for the magic of tantalising clues, for the story to continue…for something more.

Take speculation on Atlantis…reading this book (Gateway to Atlantis), as with all history books about exploring, it conjures images of a freer time of cleaner air, wide open spaces, genuine mysteries and rubbish standards of living.  Once you realise how epic any speculation is on old-time exploration and myth then it becomes something more of an experience to read about, a long gone but heroic time where unicorns and gold digging ants, as big as foxes, roamed.

Without wanting to get on a rant about this, it seems like some archaeologists, scientists and historians who have theories that challenge the status quo are seemingly ignored, their works not publicised so that possibly, erroneous teaching can carry on.  This short-sighted view annoys me, I can see their point of view, who wants to be told that what they know is wrong but on the other hand, wouldn’t it be great to explore alternates, if nothing else to point out they are wrong.  Why is history blinkered when science is more open to new theories and constantly tests them against what we know.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think Atlantis should be just believed but if scholars open their minds then perhaps worthwhile and sensible debate could be had, then we would all be richer for understanding our past or at least putting to bed another inaccurate theory.

Something particularly intriguing that I read a while back, was in the first and only Clive Cussler book, Inca Gold, that I have read.  He mentions the grave of a girl named Patty Lou Cutting, which is real and situated in a small village found in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico, he added it into the book purely to see if anyone would get in touch with him and shed some light on the matter, as far as I know, no one ever has.   The headstone of the grave is written in English and holds the words:

The dark night some stars shine through.

The dullest morn a radiant brew.

And where dusk comes, God’s hand to you.

It was nice to find something alluring in such an expected place, both for the author and for me as the reader. So what I say is revel in the mysteries…enjoy what you don’t know as much as what you do know for the magic may not survive in the answer…