TMJT: The Master Of Mystery (Part 1)

Hey guys ;-)

I’m currently reading “The Michael Jackson Tapes”, and there was this chapter, which I thought was really interesting. I mean, they all are, but this one caught my attention, cause Michael talked about mystery. Mystery, and timing. I think it’s interesting, cause of the hoax. Like we all know, timing is an important thing in the hoax. Like the burial, memorial, release date of “This Is It” etc. The chapter is kinda long, so I’m gonna split the post in 2 parts, so you won’t get too tired reading it. I know it’s not fun, and boring if you have to read long articles at once. So, here is the first part. Let me know what you think of it. Do you, like me, think it’s interesting? Does it also remind you of the hoax a little? And like in the post about the cards, I highlighted the things that caught my attention the most, and what's between parenthesis are my thoughts. SB stands for Shmuley Boteach, and MJ, like you all know, for Michael Jackson.

Part 1:

What was undeniable about Michael was that he rose to the very top of his profession worldwide. One of the most important ingredients in his remaining at the top was his intuitive understanding of the power of mystery. It was a subject I wanted to get into deeply with him.

SB: Alright, I want to speak about something with you which is crucial to this book. Of all the things I’ve seen about you, I have to tell you, I have never seen anyone who understands the power of mystery the way you do. In other words, in the Jewish religion the use of mystery is very important. The prophet Isaiah says that angels, the Seraphim, have six wings. Why six? Well, “With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew” (Isaiah 6:02). Isn’t that amazing? The angels are so modest, so mysterious, that they use their wings to cover up.

MJ: That’s beautiful.

SB: I’ve written about this extensively in my books, Michael. Mystery is one of the principal ingredients that I prescribe for relationships. The holy is always mysterious. It’s always covered. And the Torah scroll, the Bible scroll that we read from in the synagogue is kept covered and hidden away by multiple layers, in the ark, concealed by curtains, veils, and doors. It’s like three things you need to take away in order to see it. And similarly when Rebecca and Isaac meet in the Bible, before they get married and fall in love, the first thing that Rebecca does upon encountering Isaac is to cover her face. The same thing is true when Moses sees the burning bush. What’s the first thing he does? He turns away and hides his face from seeing God.

(God and everything that  has to do with religions and symbols is mysterious to a lot of people. Curtains have been a part of the hoax. Several arks appear on the "Dangerous" cover, and Michael said he loves pillars and arks and all those kinda things. Doors. In this chapter, he talks of choosing between doors, and in the "Hold My Hand" video, there's this person dressed like Michael, with the Billie Jean outfit, that's in front of doors, and he looks at them, to finally choose one.)

MJ: I love those stories.

SB: So in the Bible mystery is very important. I’ve never seen anyone who understands the power of mystery like you. I’ll give you some examples and I want you to comment on them. Number one, my kids are walking around in Neverland. There’s candy everywhere. My kids love it because they’ve never seen this, there’s popcorn machines and there’s snow cone machines, and as long as stuff is kosher, they’re eating this and eating that. And although Prince and Paris are surrounded by all this stuff, you say to them, “No, only on your birthday you can have this.” Grace told us they aren’t allowed to use the swings and all that so that they don’t get bored of it. And whenever we got to FAO Schwartz, Prince can buy toys but he has to wait to open them. And especially when it comes to your career, you’ve understood the power of being hidden. Like now, I look at all these new acts, even ‘N Sync and even Britney Spears (whom Michael and I just met in his hotel room), and I was watching them on “Entertainment Tonight” and they did an interview and I said, “My gosh are they short-sighted. You should do what Michael does. Never be ubiquitous.” But they can’t because they so badly need the attention, they can’t hold back.

I had learned this from Michael. We were once in his hotel room and Britney popped up on TV doing an interview. Michael commented to me that she was everywhere and it was going to hurt her career. “I would never do what she’s doing. In a few years no one will want to hear her anymore. She knows nothing about mystery.” And this was years before here crotch-displaying antics.

SB: So there are two things I want to ask you. Talk to me about mystery and what it means to you and how did you get the discipline to hold back when you know that every TV show wants you? I mean, gosh, we’re being pounced by every single show in America right now to get an interview with you. How do you, where does that discipline come from? Especially Michael, this is important to comment on, because people, your detractors will criticize you and say, “Michael’s a child, he behaves like a child” when really the only definition of maturity that everyone agrees on, is that maturity involves a capacity for delayed gratification. When other people act impetuously, and you can be patient and wait for things in their proper time, that’s considered the essence of maturity and self-control.

MJ: Thank you.

SB: And your career is built on that and I’m not just saying that to flatter you. It’s true, I’m amazed at it. So talk to me about mystery. How do you know this, where did it come to you, the power of that which is concealed?

MJ: Wow, you’re so observant. It’s amazing how you notice details. Um, I studied… I love psychology, I love magic, I love… I love real beauty. I love real talent. I love when something’s miraculous, when something’s so beautiful you shouldn’t get it. What I love about Halley’s comet, and I always say this to my lawyer, Halley’s comet is no more of a miracle than the moon or the sun. But we make a big deal about it because you see it once in a lifetime and everybody’s out there to see it. You know astronomers and fans and people and it’s this thing that circles around the solar system but you see it once in a lifetime. If it happened every night nobody would care, but to me the moon is just as miraculous. I always talk about deer and dogs and cats. A lot of people go, “There’s a deer! There’s a…” cause they’re shy, they’re always hidden. It’s a big deal to see a deer, I mean, and I appreciate that, how people should appreciate real ability and I always say I don’t care if you’re the most talented person in the world, if you come on the television everyday people will regurgitate you. You have to know how to play your audience. You have to know that, and it’s true, Shmuley. And it’s not just a game. But it’s real for me, it’s real for me. It really is.

(Psychology, magic, real beauty, real talent, real ability. We all know Michael loves magic and illusions. He always wanted the world to respect him for his talent, but the press kept making up all those crazy stories about him, and the world lost respect for him, so they didn't see his talent anymore. Instead, they saw all the lies that to the world became truths. Yes, he definitely has to play the audience, specially now. The way we respond to the clues, the way Michael will make his next move. It's for sure not a game to him! He had to fake his death, cause he saw no other way out. It's real for him. It's necessary.)

SB: How do you know that? For example, I had to be taught this. I write about this a lot in my books but I began to develop a lot of my ideas on it from insights from other writers, thinkers, philosophers, etcetera.

MJ: (if you remain mysterious, people will be) more interested, yeah.

SB: Look if a woman is always taking off her top, no one’s going to want to see her breasts.

MJ: That’s right.

SB: But if she does it once in a while, that’s what makes it so exciting. That’s what makes it erotic.

MJ: That’s right.

SB: But when it’s, everyday…

MJ: That’s right.

SB: Like when you go to the African tribes and women walk topless, it’s nothing.

MJ: Nothing, nothing. Leave something to the imagination. I believe in that all people are all…

SB: Did someone teach you that?

MJ: No. no, it just, looking at… learning from nature and learning you know, just watching and studying, being a serious observer. And umm, you can say to somebody, you can go, “There’s six doors, you can open any of those doors. But the fifth door, don’t open it. Don’t open the fifth door, no matter what.” Of course everybody is going, “What’s behind door number five?” because it’s the great mystery. And that’s, everyone wants to expose door number five because you know… And I love that and it’s not like a game but I want people to appreciate talent and ability. I only do an album every five years. Other artists do an album every year and my albums outlast and outsell all the other artists. And people wait for it. There’s like, you know, a whole pulse going on about this album. (Michael was working on completing invincible at the time.) It’s like fever, they’re waiting, they’re waiting. It’s important to wait.

(Michael always paid attention to details. He's a perfectionist. An observer. And it's definitely important to wait in the hoax. There's nothing else we can do. We have to wait for the clues to come, we have to wait til we see what the clues mean, and how it fits with what we've seen so far, and, the most important thing, we have to wait for his comeback.)

SB: So what is it about the hidden which makes it outlast the revealed? What is it about holding something back that people want it suddenly?

MJ: I just, I love, I do love the power of mystery, I really do. I think it’s very powerful.

SB: Is it spiritual? What is it?

MJ: It’s spiritual, it’s, it’s people conjure up all these ideas, people create it themselves. They conjure up all these ideas in their head about what’s going on. I mean they used to say, you know, Howard Hughes is up there and he owns the hotel but he stays on that floor, he doesn’t come down. He’s in the dark, he’s in the corner in the bed with long nails and hair down to here and he’s hooked to an IV. So the brain would just go crazy conjuring up all kinds of crazy stories, and I love that. I love Howard Hughes cause he played this big thing. I mean, to me he’s like one of my masters. But, I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve ever said this Shmuley, I love Howard, he’s a genius. 

SB: Because what? Because he knew the power of mystery?

MJ: How to play people, yeah. He knew how to make the public interested. P.T. Barnum was pretty good at it himself.

SB: Is it a matter of just withdrawing? Is it that simple? For example, this book came along called “The Rules”, and I debated the people who wrote it twice. And they said the way you get a guy to marry you is by playing hard to get. He calls you up and you say, “Sorry, I’d love to go out to dinner but I’m too busy.” He leaves messages on your answering machine and you never return his phone calls. You hear of the book? It’s a very controversial book. Is it that simple? I am actually a critic of “The Rules”, believing that manipulation is the worst approach to relationships and that there is a far better alternative, namely, for a woman to indulge her natural feminine mystique.

MJ: I don’t, I don’t totally agree. It depends on the individual.

SB: But with you, when you say it’s become about playing the public, is it as simple as withdrawal and they want more? And more ways how to reveal yourself?

MJ: It’s rhythm and timing. You have to know what you’re doing. Like you never see me on award shows saying, “The nominees are…” and I get asked to do every show. Now they don’t even  ask. They know I don’t do it. Or to host the show or to come out and say like, “Coming up next, Michael Jackson to present the record of the year.” You never see me coming out and doing the nominees. I don’t do it. They know not even ask me. It’s not what I do.

SB: You will never do something which makes you be the means to another end. You’re either the end or you’re not. It’s either about you or you’re not going to be the road.

MJ: Yeah, and I’m not trying to say that I’m holy or god or…

SB: But you’re not going to belittle yourself either.

MJ: I’m not going to, I want… you know? People should respect, you know? Ability and talent, and it’s all for the sake of goodness, really cause my message is for goodness. 

SB: I agree with you.

MJ: But really. I’m just trying to conserve and preserve…

End of part 1 ;-)  What do you think of it so far?