The Mystery Box
Posted on February 25, 2008 - Filed Under Inspiration
J.J. Abrams is the brilliant creative mind behind Alias, Lost and Cloverfield. I was watching a talk he gave at the 2007 TED conference that I thought was spectacular. Not because he had an awesome presentation style or really cool slides. To be honest, he was really nervous at the beginning of the talk. But he has such a passion for creativity. And such interesting and honest stories, that he just pulls you in. I highly recommend watching it here.
The coolest thing is that he talks about mysteries. Abrams starts his talk by showing a wrapped box he’s owned for decades. It’s a “mystery package” he bought from a magic store in New York when he was a little kid. It was supposed to be $50 worth of magic for only $15. What a deal! It has a big question mark on it and promises the secrets to magic once opened.
But he’s never opened it.
Why not? Because it represents something important – infinite possibility. There could be anything inside of the box! But once you open it, you know exactly what it is. You rob yourself of the imagined possibilities and deliver an outcome.
Mystery is the catalyst for imagination. Think about it. When you were a kid who was afraid of the dark, you imagined all of the scary monsters that could be hiding under the bed or in the closet. The unknown mystery of the dark was scary and exciting!
Abrams also suggests that there are times that mystery is more important than knowledge. When a mystery box has the opportunity to create something greater than a textbook or instruction manual. That’s because creativity stems from mystery boxes. From imagining solutions when you don’t know all of the facts. From being enthralled by endless possibilities and not having someone there with “credible” information saying that it can’t be done.
The next time you find with a mystery box, don’t open it. Just imagine what’s inside.
- Christian
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Man, in grade 10 or so, I received this “mystery” gift from two girls at school. It was just a miniature box that was wrapped with a message taped to it. The message was something like “my present to you is a secret and it’s inside this box… but don’t open it or else it will escape.” Some hallmark goodness like that.
I still have it!
That’s so cool! Did you ever open it?
I have never opened it. It’s still in the original wrapping!