Curiosity Is an Act of Worship
And one thing I know about curiosity: it’s democratic. Anyone, anywhere, of any age or education level, can use it.—Brian Grazer
I love concepts and ideas. They energize me. But at some point ideas must be broken down into workable pieces, bits that people can do something with; otherwise they aren’t worth much. You just read ten chapters of ideas. Yes, there were examples and a few stories scattered throughout but not much in the way of instruction. So this is my best effort at telling you how to do curiosity.
Curiosity doesn’t have a recipe. It’s not like baking cookies. If it was, it wouldn’t be very curious, would it?
Curiosity differs for everyone. Some people are finders and connectors. Some people are miners who go deep on a single subject and drill to great depths. Both need the other and benefit from their respective differences. For some people, curiosity is highly relational; for some it’s actionable, and for some it’s conceptual. Again, each is good and according to the gifts and propensities God has given them. The list that follows seeks to offer practical steps for curiosity of any cut, color, or kind.
Be Interested
If you believe the world is uninteresting, it will be for you. And you will miss everything amazing going on around you. You will miss all the amazing people and ideas and natural occurrences and creation. To be interested is a decision because our natural inclination is to shrink life to something manageable whereas being interested expands life dramatically. We must assume that God did not make a boring world. To assume He did would be to dishonor Him. And if He didn’t make a boring world, who are we to live as if it were not worth our attention? Make the decision to tune in.
Be Humble
Do not assume anyone or anything has nothing to offer you. If God made it, then it has value; and if it is a person, then he or she bears God’s imprint the same as you. It is arrogance to treat anyone or anything as valueless and uninteresting. If, then, all created things have value and hold interest, we should ask questions, and only humble people are free to do this. Asking questions is an admission of ignorance and a tacit statement of need. Pride abhors this stance. Proud people are embarrassed to ask questions and to look vulnerable. Pride kills curiosity more quickly than anything. So foster humility by constantly looking at the expanse of God, His creation, and all you don’t yet know about it.
