“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
Albert Einstein
This four minute film starring Seth Godin is about the attribute that makes the whole of creative life and engagement possible: curiosity. In it, Godin says:
‘A fundamentalist is a person
who considers whether a fact
is acceptable to their faith
before they explore it.‘
When you listen, don’t assume Godin is addressing someone else; he’s speaking directly to you and me. We all have the potential to contract around what is different or unwanted. And we have the antidote within us…
Curiosity, whichg reflects a spacious quality of awareness. It serves as an antidote for the mind’s tendency to go on lockdown around the unfamiliar. It takes us on the hero or heroine’s journey, bringing us into contact with the new, free to engage with others who don’t think or feel like we do.
Consider how curiosity fertilizes the imagination, enlivens conversation, promotes relationship with aspects of self and others that are lesser known, strange or unusual. Consider curiosity’s opposite: indifference, judgement, apathy. I imagine life without this inborn quality to be colorless and barren life.
Many folks are schooled to tame, ignore or fear this most excellent human resource. Thankfully, this quality can’t be destroyed. As an ember in a fire, it can be banked, yes, though with air and attention, our natural curious state of mind flares back to life.
Ask yourself: What are you curious or open-minded about and where do you tend to close down? What would it be like to bring a curious attitude toward the latter?
May you walk in beauty, joy and curiosity!
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