I’ve been thinking a lot about curiosity lately. This special state of alert, ponderousness requires that all basic needs are being met, that one is essentially safe. It implies an amount of space; time for inquiries that meander, back track, or even peter off. Curiosity is comfortable, even intimate, with mistake making. Aside from the cat, curiosity conjures a contradictory collection of ideas. Imagine the pink cheeked attentive child investigating the anatomy of a daisy. The nosy, condemning, busy body of a neighbor peering and spittling behind a pair of binoculars. Revel at the stunningly productive curiosity of scientists like Einstein, but recall the role of curiosity in rationalizing inhumane and racist, scientific agendas across our human story (the heinous example of eugenics for one).
Curiosity is a privilege and a weapon. It is a high octane fuel that drives human ‘progress’ and innovation. It is neither benign nor evil, more like a slippery shimmering liquid mercury. Please handle your own tendency toward curiosity with the reverence, attention and care it deserves.