According to historian Kenneth Clark, Leonardo da Vinci was ‘the most relentlessly curious man in history.’ His curiosity spawned many profound inventions and revelations.
I, too, was a very curious child, although I can't claim any productive results from my curiosity. I’m extremely thankful that the 4 kids that I birthed did not inherit that personality trait at the same level that I experienced. I’m sure there is someone out there that needs to hear it, so I will give you the results of some of my early experiments.
- Pulling diligently on a stray thread from a fancy, white, frilly, toddler-sized sock will actually unravel the sock completely, so that you will be sitting in the church pew with a naked foot and a large pile of cotton thread, before you or your mother realize what is happening.
- A carpenters’ hand drill WILL, in fact, drill holes in the wooden armrests of the living room chairs. Vintage hand drills left out by workmen are not difficult for a 2 year-old to operate.
- A mechanical alarm clock, once fully disassembled with a screwdriver, is basically impossible to put back together. Just buy another one. BTW, standard screwdrivers are not difficult for a 3 year-old to operate.
- Once you learn to spell, it is possible to write a message backwards on a piece of paper, hold it up to the mirror, and read the message. It is also possible to concentrate so much on forming the letters backward, that you press down really hard with the pencil and carve a permanent backwards message on your parents’ wooden dresser top.
- Your fingernail is strong enough to repel a staple from a lightweight, flimsy stapler, but it is NOT strong enough to stop a staple that comes from a heavy duty, sturdy stapler. The staple will painfully impale the finger through the nail, and be very hard to remove. Yes, I was a teenager when I tried that one.
- Pulling the emergency brake handle while your sister is driving the car brings the car to a terrifying, jolting stop. Another brilliant move by me, the curious teenager.
I could go on, but, in the interest of time, I won’t.
I admit, I am one of the most curious people on Earth. I mix curiosity with skepticism, which produces my constant reaction of “Really? Is that right? Hmmm. Maybe I should investigate further and see what I can find out.” I can’t help it. I often feel like there is more to the story, and I have the skills to dig deeper. And, sometimes, I am straight up curious about why something happens this way, or what would happen if I tried this thing, or how are these separate things related to each other?
Here’s where you tell me to remember that Curiosity Killed The Cat. Really? How? All the cats I know are resourceful and nimble and wary of danger. My childhood Persian cat Fluffy was quick to react—a hypothesis I tested time and time again by holding her upside-down then dropping her to see if she would land on her feet, as cats always did in cartoons. She never did stick a landing, but she did scamper off, sure-footed and irritated. What, exactly, did the Curious Cat do that caused its demise? Methinks that saying was invented as a cautionary tale to suggest that people back off when they are getting too close to revealing some truth. You can’t fool me with your dire warnings.
OK, sometimes I have to take things at face-value. I have to trust the experts, or believe in the system, or let other people do their jobs. I am willing to play along when I need to. After all, it would be exhausting to lead the charge of discovery about every little thing that happens day after day. I have to accept some things as they are, so that I can operate in these times. Take technology, for instance. If I try to understand the many ways we are connected physically and remotely, my head starts to hurt.
If I am sitting in my den, pressing the remote control for my TV at the same time as I press the remote control for my audio speakers, at the same time as I upload a photo to a cloud, at the same time as I answer a call on my cellphone, at the same time as I log into the internet……BOOOSH! Head explode. I mean, how many signals and pulses and light waves are traveling through the air that I breathe? I imagine, sometimes, how I would draw a diagram with color-coded dashes depicting the connections from one device to the other. That would look like a confusing Jackson Pollack painting! So, I don’t worry too much about unpacking the layers of complexity in technology. I just use the stuff and leave things be. I save my curious nature for things that I can explore more practically.
Often, I feel the curiosity impulse, and I have to ask myself, “Is this important? Do I really need to spend the time and energy to answer these questions?” Sometimes, the answer is YES, and I dig in. Sometimes, the answer is NO, and I accept it and move on to more important things, adulting as I should. Sometimes, the answer is NO, but I cast that answer aside and throw caution to the wind, because I really want to find out more. I explore the topic as much as I can, until I get to the bottom of things, or I lose interest—whichever comes first.
I encourage everyone (kids, especially) to embrace curiosity. Find out Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why. Speaking from personal experience, I suggest you always preface any experiments with the questions, “Is this a good idea?” and “Is it safe?” As I teach kids in my preschool class, I also suggest you format your research using the Scientific Method:
- Verbalize a Question--What you want to know
- Form an Educated Guess (Hypothesis), What do you think will happen?
- Conduct an Experiment, to give you Results
- Analyze the Results & Compare to your Hypothesis
- Make Your Conclusion
See, you can’t go wrong with those steps in place! And you might discover a huge revelation that helps you see the world in a different way. Or a small revelation that confirms your understanding. As I tell my kids at school, “There’s always something new to learn!” Here are a few quotes to light the fire of curiosity:
"Learning is by nature, curiosity."
Philo of Alexandria
"I am neither especially clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious.".
Albert Einstein
"Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive."
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Be curious, not judgmental."
Walt Whitman
Here's my plug for curiosity. Ask the questions. Search for answers. Solve the mysteries. Gain understanding. Follow Alice through the Looking Glass. Join me in this lifelong journey that becomes curiouser and curiouser!